LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF 
C/O-IFORN1A 

SAN  DIEGO 


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JOHN   BROWN  AMONG  THE   QUAKERS, 
AND  OTHER  SKETCHES 


JOHN  BROWN  AMONG  THE 

QUAKERS,  AND  OTHER 

SKETCHES 


BY 

IRVING   B.  RICHMAN 

CONSUL  GENERAL  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  TO 
SWITZERLAND 


DES  MOINES 
THE  HISTORICAL  DEPARTMENT  OF  IOWA 

1894 


COPYRIGHT,   1894 

BY  IRVING  B.  RICHMAN 

DBS  MOINES,   IOWA 


Efjc  ILakcstlic  Qrcsa 

R.    R.   DONNELLEY   &   SONS  CO.,  CHICAGO 


INTRODUCTORY  NOTE. 

The  Historical  Department  of  Iowa  was 
established  in  1892  by  vote  of  the  Twenty- 
fourth  General  Assembly  of  the  State.  Its 
object  is  the  promotion  of  historical  collec- 
tions pertaining  to  Iowa  and  the  territory 
from  which  Iowa  was  formed.  The  depart- 
ment is  placed  under  the  supervision  of  a 
board  of  trustees  consisting  of  the  Governor 
of  the  State,  the  Judges  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  the  Secretary  of  State,  and  the  Super- 
intendent of  Public  Instruction. 

The  historical  papers  published  in  this 
volume  are  contributions  to  the  work  of  the 
department.  Two  of  them — the  one  on 
John  Brown  and  the  one  on  Black  Hawk — 
have  been  passed  upon  and  commended  as 
original  studies :  the  first  by  Frank  B.  San- 
born,  Esq.,  Brown's  biographer,  and  the 
second  by  the  late  Dr.  Francis  Parkman. 


JOHN    BROWN    AMONG    THE 
QUAKERS 


JOHN  BROWN  AMONG  THE 
QUAKERS. 

Is  THERE  room  for  another  article  on  John 
Brown  ?  It  would  seem  to  be  more  than 
doubtful.  His  life  has  been  written  three 
times:  by  Redpath,  by  Webb,  and  by  San- 
born  ;  by  Sanborn  in  a  way  most  thorough 
and  painstaking.  Many  papers  about  him 
and  his  exploits  have  appeared  in  the  maga- 
zines :  not  less  than  seven  in  the  Atlantic 
Monthly,  the  first  in  1865  and  the  last  in 
1879  ;  two  at  least  i*1  tne  Century,  and  several 
in  the  North  American  Review,  the  Andover 
Review,  and  Lippincotfs.  His  career  in  Kan- 
sas has  been  minutely  traced  ;  his  foray  in  Vir- 
ginia has  been  described  by  his  son  and  by 
persons  who  were  his  prisoners  at  Harper's 
Ferry. 

But  the  whole  of  Brown's  story  has  not  yet 
been  told,  not  even  by  Mr.  Sanborn.  A  part 
of  it,  and  that  an  interesting  part,  remains  to 
be  told.  This  is  the  part  supplied  by  the 
incidents  of  the  sojourn  of  John  Brown  in 
Iowa  from  early  in  August,  1857,  to  April 
27th,  1858,  and  from  February  loth  to  about 
ii 


12      JOHN    BROWN    AMONG    THE    QUAKERS. 

March  7th,  1859:  first  at  Tabor  in  Fremont 
County,  and  afterwards,  and  more  especially, 
at  Springdale  in  Cedar  County. 

If  one  take  the  cars  on  the  western  bank  of 
the  Mississippi  River  at  Davenport  in  Iowa 
and  travel  west  on  the  Chicago,  Rock  Island 
and  Pacific  Railroad  for  forty  miles,  he  will 
reach  the  town  of  West  Liberty  in  Muscatine 
County.  Then  if  he  travel  north  on  the 
Burlington,  Cedar  Rapids  and  Northern 
Railroad  for  six  miles,  he  will  reach  the  town 
of  West  Branch  in  Cedar  County.  Four 
miles  due  east  from  West  Branch  is  the 
village  of  Springdale.  But  it  is  with  West 
Branch  that  we  first  have  to  do.  One  day 
late  in  October,  of  the  year  1856,  there  rode 
into  the  town  of  West  Branch  (not  then  a  rail- 
way station)  an  elderly  man,  weary  and  travel- 
stained.  He  was  mounted  on  a  mule  and 
led  a  horse.  He  made  his  way  to  the  only 
tavern  in  the  place,  over  the  entrance  to 
which  hung  the  sign,  "  The  Traveler's  Rest." 
This  tavern  was  kept  by  a  genial,  rosy-cheeked 
Quaker  by  the  name  of  James  Townsend.  On 
dismounting  the  traveler  asked  his  host : 
"  Have  you  ever  heard  of  John  Brown  of  Kan- 
sas?" According  to  the  story,  Townsend, 
without  replying,  took  from  his  vest  pocket 
a  piece  of  chalk  and,  removing  Brown's  hat, 


JOHN    BROWN    AMONG   THE    QUAKERS.      13 

marked  it  with  a  large  X ;  he  then  replaced 
the  hat  and  solemnly  decorated  the  back  of 
Brown's  coat  with  two  large  X  marks ;  lastly 
he  placed  an  X  on  the  back  of  the  mule. 
Brown  in  this  way  having  been  admitted  to 
the  tavern  free  list,  Townsend  said  :  "  Friend, 
put  the  animals  in  that  stable  and  walk  into 
the  house  ;  thee  is  surely  welcome."  Brown 
had  just  come  from  the  stirring  scenes  of  the 
Kansas  Territory:  from  the  battle  of  Black 
Jack,  fought  in  the  preceding  June,  and 
from  Ossavvatomie  and  the  Lawrence  foray, 
events  that  then  were  but  a  few  weeks  past ; 
and  the  suggestion  has  been  made  that  in 
Brown's  narrative  of  his  Kansas  adventures 
worthy  James  Townsend  received  a  full  equiv- 
alent for  the  buckwheat  cakes  and  "sorghum" 
for  which  his  hostelry  was  famous,  and  to  which 
on  this  occasion  John  Brown  doubtless  did  am- 
ple justice.  Be  that  as  it  may,  it  is  certain  that, 
during  Brown's  short  stay  in  West  Branch, 
(he  was  in  Chicago  on  Oct.  25th,)  he  heard 
of  Springdale  and  of  the  strong  anti-slavery 
sentiment  of  its  shrewd,  thrifty,  Quaker  popu- 
lation ;  for  henceforth  this  village  became 
one  of  his  places  of  frequent  resort. 

Continuing  his  journey  from  Chicago, 
Brown  went  to  Ohio,  where  were  his  family, 
and  thence,  with  a  stop  or  two  in  the  State  of 


14      JOHN    BROWN    AMONG    THE    QUAKERS. 

New  York,  to  Boston,  Massachusetts.  Here 
he  first  met  Mr.  F.  B.  Sanborn  then  just  grad- 
uated from  Harvard,  who,  twenty-eight  years 
afterwards,  became  his  biographer.  While  in 
Boston,  Jan.  7th,  1857,  Brown  was  made  the 
agent  of  the  Massachusetts-Kansas  State 
Committee  to  receive  two  hundred  Sharp's 
rifles,  then  stored  at  Tabor  in  Iowa.  These 
rifles  had  been  sent  West  by  this  committee  in 
August,  1856,  to  be  used  for  defense  by  the 
Free  State  settlers.  They  had  got  as  far  as 
Tabor,  but  for  reasons  not  known  to  the  com- 
mittee, had  got  no  farther.  During  his  stay 
in  the  East,  Brown  appeared  before  the  Joint 
Committee  of  the  Massachusetts  Legislature 
appointed  to  investigate  the  Kansas  situation  ; 
spoke  in  the  town  hall  at  Concord  where  he 
had  Mr.  Emerson  as  a  listener ;  met  Theodore 
Parker  at  the  delivery  of  one  of  the  latter's 
discourses  in  Music  Hall,  Boston ;  ordered 
one  thousand  pikes  from  Charles  Blair  of 
Collinsville,  Connecticut, — the  handles  to  be 
six  feet  in  length  and  the  ferrules  to  be  of 
strong  malleable  iron  ;  and  last,  but  by  no 
means  least,  about  April  ist,  met  Hugh 
Forbes,  an  Italic-Anglican  swordsman  and 
drill  master,  whom  he  hired  to  go  to  Tabor 
and  make  ready  to  drill  the  squad  of  men  he 
purposed  to  assemble  there  on  his  return  to 


JOHN    BROWN    AMONG    THE    QUAKERS.       15 

the  West.  For  this  service  Forbes  was  to 
receive  one  hundred  dollars  a  month ;  and 
six  hundred  dollars  were  on  April  ist,  1857, 
handed  over  to  him  by  Brown  to  bind  the 
bargain  and  as  an  advance  payment.  Forbes 
had  been  a  silk  merchant  at  Sienna  and  had 
served  with  Garibaldi  in  1848-49;  since 
coining  to  America  he  had  eked  out  a  scant 
subsistence  as  a  translator  on  the  staff  of  the 
New  York  Tribune  and  by  giving  fencing 
lessons.  On  April  i3th,  Brown  left  for  the 
West,  but  did  not  reach  Tabor  until  early 
in  August. 

Three  facts  gave  Tabor  its  importance  in 
slavery  days :  its  location  in  a  free  State ; 
the  intense  anti-slavery  sentiment  of  its 
people;  and  its  proximity  to  the  northern 
line  of  Kansas  territory.  It  had  been  founded 
in  1852  by  a  few  families  from  Oberlin,  Ohio, 
almost  all  of  them  Congregationalists ;  and 
when  in  1856  access  to  Kansas  for  Northern 
settlers,  by  way  of  St.  Louis  and  the  Missouri 
River,  was  practically  denied  by  the  Missou- 
rians,  a  new  route  through  Iowa  and  Nebraska 
Territory  was  opened  up  by  Dr.  S.  G.  Howe 
and  other  Massachusetts  men  ;  and  this  route 
had  Tabor  and  Nebraska  City  for  its  western 
termini.  Among  the  parties  of  Free  State 
settlers  that  in  1856  came  west  over  the  new 


l6      JOHN    BROWN    AMONG   THE    QUAKERS. 

route  was  one  led  by  a  Col.  Eldridge.  They 
had  started  without  arms,  (some  of  them  from 
as  distant  a  State  as  Maine,)  having  been 
promised  that  arms  would  be  supplied  them 
at  Albany,  then  at  Buffalo,  after  that  at  Cleve- 
land, and  finally  at  Chicago.  But,  on  reach- 
ing Tabor,  they  still  were  defenseless ;  more- 
over, they  were  about  to  mutiny.  They  were 
with  difficulty  persuaded  to  go  forward  by 
General  James  H.  Lane  who  made  them  a 
spirited  speech.  It  doubtless  was  the  exper- 
ience of  this  party,  or  of  some  similar  party  at 
about  this  time,  that  influenced  the  Massachu- 
setts-Kansas State  Committee  to  send  to  the 
West  the  two  hundred  Sharp's  rifles  which 
already  have  been  mentioned.  These  rifles, 
on  their  arrival  in  Tabor,  had  been  stored  in 
the  barn  on  the  premises  belonging  to  the 
Rev.  John  Todd  (the  Congregational  clergy- 
man of  the  place)  to  await  a  favorable  oppor- 
tunity for  smuggling  them  through  Nebraska 
City  and  over  the  border  into  Kansas.  Such 
an  opportunity  had  not  yet  presented  itself 
when  in  August,  1857,  Brown  came  with  his 
order  for  the  arms  from  the  Massachusetts 
Committee.  They  were  promptly  given  into 
his  charge  by  Todd1  and,  on  August  i3th, 

1 1  had  two  cannon  in  my  barn  for  a  considerable  time, 
besides  boxes  of  guns,  sabres,  cartridges  and  clothing;  also 


JOHN    BROWN    AMONG   THE    QUAKERS.      17 

Brown  wrote  to  Mr.  Sanborn  at  Boston :  "  I 
find  the  arms  and  ammunition  voted  me  by 
the  Massachusetts  State  Committee  nearly  all 
here  and  in  middling  good  order — some  a 
little  rusted.  Have  overhauled  and  cleaned 
up  the  worst  of  them." 

On  August  gth,  Hugh  Forbes  arrived. 
When  engaged  he  had  been  directed  to  start 
West  as  soon  as  possible,  but  he  did  not  do 
so  until  he  had  spent  all  of  the  six  hundred 
dollars  which  Brown  had  then  paid  him.  Now 
that  he  was  on  the  ground  with  the  Manual 
of  Tactics  prepared  by  himself,  entitled  the 
Patriotic  Volunteer,1  the  business  of  military 

twenty  boxes  of  Sharp's  rifles.  Captain  Brown  came  for 
them  and  I  went  out  with  him  to  the  barn  and  showed  him 
where  they  were. — Letter  of  Rev.  John  Todd,  dated  Afay 
25th,  1892. 

1  The  complete  title  of  Forbes's  book  is :  "Manual  for  the 
Patriotic  Volunteer  on  Active  Service  in  Regular  and  Irreg- 
ular War,  being  the  Art  and  Science  of  obtaining  and 
maintaining  Liberty  and  Independence."  The  first  part  of 
the  book  is  devoted  to  ''popular  or  irregular  war,"  and  the 
remainder  to  "  regular  war. "  There  is  marked  similarity 
between  the  methods  of  irregular  or  guerilla  warfare  recom- 
mended in  Forbes'  book  and  those  practiced  by  John 
Brown.  Indeed,  it  is  not  improbable  that  Brown's  methods 
—  particularly  those  upon  which  he  had  decided  for  his 
Virginia  campaign  —  were  to  some  extent  derived  from  this 
book.  It  is  known  to  have  been  Brown's  intention  when  he 
left  Tabor  for  Ashtabula,  Ohio,  not  merely  to  establish  a 
school  of  instruction  there  but  also  in  Canada,  [Letter  of 
P.  W.  Moffat  to  F.  B.  Sanborn  quoted  at  page  425  of  San- 


1 8      JOHN    BROWN    AMONG    THE    QUAKERS. 

instruction  was  at  once  begun.  "We  are 
beginning  to  take  lessons,"  wrote  Brown  to 
his  wife  and  family,  on  August  i7th,  "and 
have,  we  think,  a  very  capable  teacher."  At 
this  time  there  seems  to  have  been  no  one 
with  Brown  at  Tabor  except  his  son  Owen. 
Lessons  in  the  Manual  were  given  to  Brown 
by  Forbes  and  both  practiced  target  shooting. 
No  drilling  was  done  by  Brown  in  public; 
indeed,  neither  he  nor  Forbes  was  much 
seen.  They  kept  themselves  close.  But  the 
good  opinion  of  Forbes,  which  Brown  had  at 
first  conceived,  did  not  last.  He  proved  to 
be  an  intractable,  vain-glorious  person ;  not 
willing  to  serve  in  the  capacity  of  drill-master, 
but  desirous  himself  of  becoming  the  head  of 
a  movement  for  liberating  the  slaves.1  The 

horn's  Life  and  Letters  of  John  Brown]  thus  providing  for 
the  creation  of  a  number  of  bands  which  should  operate 
separately  yet  in  concert.  On  the  advisability  of  bands 
such  as  these,  Forbes  says  at  paragraph  30  of  the  Manual : 
"A  single  band,  whether  large  or  small,  would  have  but  a 
poor  chance  of  success  —  it  would  be  speedily  surrounded; 
but  a  multiplicity  of  little  bands,  some  three  to  ten  miles 
distant  from  each  other,  yet  in  connection  and  communica- 
tion, cannot  be  surrounded,  especially  in  a  chain  of  well 
wooded  mountains,  such  as  the  Appenines." 

1 "  He  [Forbes]  said  further  that  in  the  course  of  their 
[Forbes1  and  Brown's]  conversations  as  to  the  plan  by 
which  they  should  more  effectually  counteract  this  invasion, 
[that  of  Kansas  by  the  Slave  States]  he  suggested  the 
getting  up  of  a  stampede  of  slaves  secretly  QIJ  the  border  of 


JOHN    BROWN    AMONG    THE    QUAKERS.      IQ 

outcome  was  that  on  November  2d,  Forbes, 
in  disgust,  left  Brown  for  the  East.1  The 
measure  of  Brown's  infatuation  with  Forbes  on 
first  meeting  him,  and  even  for  a  time  after 
he  came  to  Tabor,  is  surprising.  While  in 
the  East,  Brown  had  not  taken  Sanborn  or 
Parker  or  Gerritt  Smith  into  his  confidence  as 
to  his  Virginia  plan,  but  to  Forbes  he  had 
divulged  all.  It  is  worthy  of  remark  in  pass- 
ing that  the  first  written  intimation  of  this  plan 
given  to  any  one  by  Brown  was  to  his  wife. 
It  is  contained  in  the  following  sentence  of  a 
letter  to  her  from  Tabor,  dated  August  lyth  : 
"Should  no  disturbance  occur  [in  Kansas], 
we  may  possibly  think  best  to  work  back  east- 
ward ;  cannot  determine  yet." 

The  desertion  of  Forbes  compelled  Brown 
to  abandon  his  project  of  a  school  of  military 

Kansas  and  Missouri  which  Brown  disapproved,  and  on 
his  part  suggested  an  attack  upon  the  border  States  with  a 
view  to  induce  the  slaves  to  rise,  and  so  keep  the  invaders 
at  home  to  take  care  of  themselves." — Senator  William  H. 
Reward  in  his  examination  before  Senator  Mason' s  Committee 
on  the  John  Broivn  Affair. 

V  I  had  the  impression  it  [the  quarrel  between  Forbes 
and  Brown]  was  on  account  of  want  of  pay;  that  Brown 
had  no  men  to  drill ;  that  he  [Forbes]  went  out  [to  Tabor] 
to  drill  some  men  and  they  had  none,  and  that  Brown  did 
not  pay  him." — Senator  Henry  Wilson  in  his  examination 
before  Senator  Mason's  Committee  on  the  John  Brown 
Affair. 


20      JOHN    BROWN   AMONG   THE    QUAKERS. 

instruction  for  himself  and  such  followers  as 
he  should  succeed  in  gathering  about  him  at 
Tabor.  Followers  themselves  were  scarce. 
He  therefore  decided  to  go  to  Kansas,  assem- 
ble a  number  of  the  tried  men  of  the  Kansas 
conflict,  proceed  to  Ashtabula,  Ohio,  and 
there  establish  a  military  school  at  which  his 
men  could  be  instructed.  He  also  decided 
that  his  next  move  against  slavery  would  be 
made  somewhere  in  the  State  of  Virginia.  At 
Lawrence,  Kansas,  he  enlisted  John  E.  Cook, 
whom  he  had  first  met  after  the  battle  of 
Black  Jack,  Luke  F.  Parsons,  who  had  also 
been  with  him  in  Kansas  in  1856,  and  Richard 
Realf.  At  Topeka  he  was  joined  by  Aaron 
D.  Stephens,  (then  known  as  C.  Whipple,) 
Charles  W.  Moffat,  and  John  Henrie  Kagi. 
With  these  men  he  went  to  Tabor,  where  in 
the  meantime  had  come  William  H.  Leeman 
and  Charles  Plummer  Tidd,  both  of  whom 
had  formerly  served  with  him.  Toward  the 
last  of  November  he  and  his  band  left  Tabor 
en  route  for  Ashtabula,  but  not  until  Brown 
had  said  to  Jonas  Jones  (in  whose  care  his 
letters  had  been  coming  to  him  and  in  whose 
house  the  military  lessons  had  been  given), 
"  Good  bye,  Mr.  Jones,  you  will  hear  from 
me.  We've  had  enough  talk  about '  bleeding 
Kansas.'  I  will  make  a  bloody  spot  at  another 


JOHN    BROWN    AMONG    THE    QUAKERS.       21 

point  to  be  talked  about."  '  On  leaving  Ta- 
bor, Brown  told  Cook,  Realf,  and  Parsons 
that  his  ultimate  destination  was  Virginia. 
This  was  not  welcome  news  to  these  three 
of  his  men,  and  they  were  with  difficulty 
prevailed  upon  to  accompany  him.  But  ac- 
company him  they  did,  and  after  several 
weeks  of  hard  travel  over  the  plains,  the  party 
reached  Springdale — probably  late  in  Decem- 
ber, 1857. 

Springdale,  as  has  been  stated  before,  is  a 
small  village  in  Cedar  county,  Iowa.  Among 
its  first  residents  were  John  H.  Painter,  a 
Quaker,  who  came  in  1849  ;  an<^  Ann  Cop- 
poc,  a  Quakeress,  and  Dr.  H.  C.  Gill,  who 
came  in  1850.  During  the  next  few  years 
many  came,  almost  all  of  them  Quakers  ;  so 
that  when  visited  by  Brown  and  his  band  in 
1857,  it  was  a  thriving  Quaker  settlement. 
Its  one  street,  which  in  fact  is  but  a  part  of 
the  public  highway,  is  bordered  on  either  hand 
by  modest  frame  houses  surrounded  by  spac- 
ious yards  and  shaded  by  the  over-hangin.g 
branches  of  trees.  On  all  sides  of  the  village 
the  green  and  undulating  fields  stretch  away 
to  the  horizon.  Within  its  homes  the  pleasant 

'This  remark  was  made  in  the  presence  of  William  M. 
Brooks,  Esq.,  of  Tabor,  now  President  of  Tabor  College. 
From  Letter  of  President  Brooks,  dated  May  jolh,  1892. 


22      JOHN    BROWN    AMONG   THE    QUAKERS. 

"thee"  and  "thy"  of  the  Quaker  constantly 
are  heard ;  and  there  prevails  an  air  of 
peace  and  serenity  which  is  inexpressibly 
soothing  and  comforting.  Today,  twenty- 
eight  years  after  the  abolition  of  slavery,  the 
men  of  Springdale  vote  the  Republican  ticket 
with  very  nearly  the  same  unanimity  that  they 
did  in  1860.  From  this  fact  one  may  infer 
something  as  to  the  political  spirit  of  its  good 
people  in  the  50*3,  when  to  be  an  Abolitionist 
generally  was  to  be  more  or  less  despised. 

As  has  been  seen,  it  was  not  Brown's  origi- 
nal intention  to  stop  long  at  Springdale.  It 
had  been  his  purpose  to  stop  there  merely 
long  enough  to  sell  his  teams  and  wagons, 
and  then  to  proceed  by  rail  to  Ashtabula  county, 
Ohio.  But  the  panic  of  '57  had  begun  and 
money  was  scarce.  He  was  nearly  out  of 
funds,  and  unable  to  raise  any.  Under  these 
circumstances,  he  decided  to  spend  the  winter 
at  the  village,  and  to  resume  his  journey  early 
in  the  spring.  He  was  more  than  welcome, 
and  so  were  his  men.  To  the  Quakers  he  and 
his  band  stood  as  the  embodiment  of  the 
sentiment  against  human  slavery  which  that 
sect  so  firmly  held.  To  be  sure,  John  Brown 
and  his  followers  were  not  men  of  peace ; 
they,  one  and  all  of  them,  had  fought  hard 
and  often  in  the  Kansas  war ;  but  much  was 


JOHN    BROWN    AMONG    THE    QUAKERS.       23 

pardoned  to  them  by  the  Quakers  because  of 
the  holiness  of  their  object ;  for,  while  the 
Quaker  would  not  concede  that  bloodshed 
ever  was  right,  it  was  with  extreme  leniency 
that  he  chided  him  who  had  shed  blood  to 
liberate  the  slave. 

Brown's  men— Kagi,  Stephens,  Cook, 
Realf,  Tidd,  Parsons,  Moffat,  Leeman,  Owen 
Brown,  and  a  negro,  Richard  Richardson, 
who  had  been  picked  up  at  Tabor,  were  given 
quarters  in  the  house  of  Mr.  William  Maxon 
which  was  situated  about  three  miles  north- 
east of  the  village.  Maxon  himself  was  not  a 
Quaker,  and  the  direct  responsibility  of  hous- 
ing men-at-arms  was  thus  avoided  by  this 
Quaker  community.  Brown,  however,  was 
received  into  the  house  of  the  good  Quaker, 
John  H.  Painter,  who  became  one  of  his 
staunchest  and  most  confidential  friends. 
The  time  spent  in  Springdale  was  a  time  of 
genuine  pleasure  to  Brown's  men.  They  en- 
joyed its  quiet,  as  also  the  rural  beauty  of 
the  village  and  the  gentle  society  of  the 
people.  There  were  long  winter  evenings  to 
be  passed  in  hospitable  homes ;  evenings 
marked  by  discussions  of  slavery  or  by 
stories  of  perils  and  escapes  on  the  border. 
Then,  in  turn,  there  was  the  pleasure — not 
unmixed  with  a  certain  wonder  and  awe — 


24      JOHN    BROWN    AMONG    THE    QUAKERS. 

which  was  afforded  to  the  villagers  by  the 
presence  among  them  of  men  of  such  strik- 
ing parts  and  individuality  as  were  these 
followers  of  John  Brown.  It  was  not  every 
village  that  was  favored  with  the  society  of 
a  John  Henrie  Kagi,  for  instance,  a  man  of 
thought  and  of  varied  accomplishments — a 
stenographer,  among  other  things,  and,  at 
one  time,  correspondent  in  Kansas  for  the 
New  York  Post;  or  of  an  Aaron  D.  Stephens,1 
a  man  who  had  served  in  the  United  States 
Army,  been  sentenced  by  a  court-martial  to 
be  shot  for  assaulting  an  officer  who  it  was 
said  was  brutally  chastising  one  of  the  men, 
but  had  escaped  and  was  now  enlisted  with 
Brown  under  the  name  of  C.  Whipple  ;  or  of 
a  Richard  Realf,2  eloquent,  poetic,  impetuous; 

'Aaron  D.Stephens  was  a  member  of  Company  F., 
First  Dragoons,  U.  S.  Army.  On  May  25th,  1855,  he,  to- 
gether with  three  comrades,  was  sentenced  to  death  for  par- 
ticipation in  what  is  called  in  his  sentence  "  a  drunken  riot 
and  mutiny  against  a  major  of  the  regiment."  The  Court 
Martial  which  passed  the  sentence  convened  at  Don  Fer- 
nandez de  Taos,  New  Mexico,  where  the  regiment  was 
when  the  mutiny  occurred.  Afterwards,  on  August  9th, 
1855,  the  sentence  of  death  was  commuted  by  President 
Pierce  to  three  years  at  hard  labor,  under  guard,  and  with- 
out pay;  but  ere  this,  Stephens  had  made  his  escape. 

1  "  I  am  a  native  of  England.  I  was  born  in  the  year 
1834.  I  will  therefore  be  twenty-six  next  June.  I  first  came 
to  this  country  in  1854.  My  parents  are  living  now  in  Eng- 
land. At  the  time  I  left  England  my  father  was  filling  the 


JOHN    BROWN    AMONG   THE    QUAKERS.      25 

claiming  to  have  been  the  especial  protege  of 
Lady  Noel  Byron,  and  suspected  of  having 
been  mixed  up  in  foreign  political  troubles  ; 
or  of  a  John  Edwin  Cook,  also  poetic,  hand- 
some in  flowing  hair,  a  masterly  penman,  lily 
fingered  perhaps,  but  none  the  less  of  great 
courage  and  the  crack  shot  of  the  company. 
It  was  not  all  play  for  Brown's  men  while 
in  Springdale.  Brown  himself  never  for  a 
moment  lost  sight  of  the  great  end  which  he 
had  in  view.  Aaron  D.  Stephens  was  ap- 
pointed drill  master,  and  a  regular  daily 
routine  of  military  study  and  drill  insisted 
upon.  Five  o  clock  was  the  rising  hour  ;  im- 
mediately after  breakfast  study  was  begun  and 
continued  until  nine  or  ten  o'clock  ;  books 
were  then  laid  aside  and  the  men  drilled  in 
the  school  of  the  soldier  on  the  broad  sward 
to  the  east  of  the  Maxon  house.  In  the  after- 
noon a  sort  of  combined  gymnastics  and 

position  which  he  now  fills,  namely,  an  officer  of  the  English 
rural  police.  My  father  was  a  blacksmith  at  one  time. 
That  trade  he  learned  himself.  He  was  a  peasant,  which 
means  an  agricultural  laborer.  I  had  been  a  protege  of 
Lady  Noel  Byron.  I  had  disagreed  with  Lady  Byron  on 
account  of  some  private  matters,  which  it  is  not  necessary 
to  explain  here,  but  which  rendered  me  desirous  of  finding 
some  other  place  in  which  to  dwell.  Moreover  my  instincts 
were  democratic  and  republican  or  at  least  anti-monarchical. 
Therefore  I  came  to  America." — Richard  Realfin  his  testi- 
mony before  Senator  Mason's  Committee  on  the  John  Bra-urn 
affair. 


26    JOHN  BROWN  AMONG  THE  QUAKERS. 

company  man oeuvers  were  practiced,  the  object 
of  which  apparently  was  to  inure  the  men  to 
the  strain  of  running,  jumping,  vaulting, 
and  firing  in  different  and  difficult  atti- 
tudes.1 Among  other  exercises  was  a  sword 
drill  which  was  performed  with  long  wooden 
sabres,  one  of  which — the  one  used  by  Owen 
Brown — is  still  preserved  in  the  Maxon 
family.  Tuesday  and  Friday  evenings  were 
set  apart  for  the  proceedings  of  a  mock  legis- 
lature which  had  been  organized.  One  of 
the  sons  of  Mr.  William  Maxon  remembers 
that  he  served  in  this  honorable  body  in  the 
capacity  of  the  member  from  Cedar  county. 
The  sessions  were  held  either  in  the  large  sit- 
ting-room of  the  Maxons,  or  in  the  larger 
room  of  the  district  school  building,  a  mile 
and  a  half  away.  There  were  a  speaker,  a 
clerk  of  the  House,  and  regular  standing 
committees.  Bills  were  introduced,  referred, 
reported  back,  debated  with  intense  earnest- 
ness and  no  little  ability,  and  finally  brought 

1  Forbes'  Manual  was  used  in  these  drills — especially 
that  part  of  it  devoted  to  guerrilla  warfare.  Paragraph  57 
of  the  Manual  reads  as  follows:  "The  irregular  troops 
cannot  be  expected  to  attain  a  high  degree  of  military  in- 
struction ;  nevertheless  the  foot  guerrilla  should  with  haste, 
and  even  hurry,  be  practiced  in  forming  single  and  double 
files  ...  in  the  use  of  the  knife,  of  fire-arms;  also  to 
creep  along  the  ground,  to  climb  and  to  hide  and  to  form 
the  chain  of  skirmishers." 


JOHN    BROWN    AMONG    THE    QUAKERS.       27 

to  vote.  Kagi  was  the  keenest  debater,  and 
Realf  and  Cook  orators  of  very  considerable 
powers.  The  other  evenings  of  the  week 
were  passed  by  each  one  according  to  his 
fancy.  There  were  the  good  substantial  home- 
steads of  the  Painters,  the  Lewises,  the  Var- 
neys,  the  Gills,  that  could  be  visited ;  or 
Richard  Realf  had  consented  to  address  the 
Lyceum  at  Pedee,  and  all  Springdale  was 
going  to  hear  him  ;  this  in  part  for  the  pleas- 
ure there  was  in  listening  to  so  good  a 
speaker,  but  more  perhaps  because  of  the 
anti-slavery  views  to  which  in  all  probability 
he  would  give  utterance,  to  the  amazement 
and  scandal  of  the  Pedeeites  who  were  strong 
Democrats. 

It  is  perhaps  not  surprising  that,  under 
conditions  such  as  these,  some  of  the  hardy 
fellows  of  Brown's  command  should  have 
been  visited  by  thoughts  of  love.  All  were  bach- 
elors, and,  moreover,  all  were  young :  Kagi, 
twenty-three;  Cook,  twenty-three  or  four; 
Realf,  twenty-three;  Stephens,  twenty-seven; 
Parsons,  twenty-two ;  Leeman,  eighteen ; 
Tidd,  twenty-five  or  six;  Moffat,  thirty; 
Owen  Brown  twenty-nine  or  thirty.  Stephens 
and  Cook  and  Parsons  gave  unmistakable 
proofs  of  the  birth  of  the  tender  passion 
within  them.  And  even  Owen  Brown,  who 


28      JOHN    BROWN    AMONG    THE    QUAKERS. 

seems  to  have  been  a  bachelor  by  determina- 
tion and  from  principle  and  who  never  mar- 
ried, went  so  far  as  to  divulge  the  fact  that 
there  was  one  maiden  near  Springdale  whom 
he  would  marry,  if  he  ever  married  at  all,  but 
to  whom,  out  of  abundant  caution,  he  had 
resolved,  never  even  to  speak. 

Brown  himself  did  not  remain  at  Spring- 
dale  throughout  the  winter,  but  soon  pushed 
on  East  to  find  and  send  back  Forbes,  to 
raise  money,  and  to  confer  with  Gerritt 
Smith,  Sanborn,  Parker  and  others.  But  be- 
fore going  he  took  time  earnestly  to  consult 
with  his  friends,  Gill,  Maxon  and  Painter. 
What  he  disclosed  to  them  of  his  plans  and 
purposes  is  substantially  what  he  afterwards 
(on  February  22d,  1858,)  disclosed  to  Gerritt 
Smith  and  F.  B.  Sanborn  at  Peterboro,  New 
York,  namely,  a  scheme  of  invasion  of  Vir- 
ginia. He  also,  it  seems,  intimated  (at  least 
to  Gill)  that  the  point  of  invasion  would  be 
Harper's  Ferry.1  Gill,  Maxon,  and  Painter, 

'"Some  time  toward  Spring,  John  Brown  came  to  my 
house  one  Sunday  afternoon.  He  informed  me  that  he 
wished  to  have  some  private  talk  with  me ;  we  went  into  the 
parlor.  He  then  told  me  his  plans  for  the  future.  He  had 
not  then  decided  to  attack  the  Armory  at  Harper's  Ferry, 
but  intended  to  take  some  fifty  to  one  hundred  men  into  the 
hills  near  the  Ferry  and  remain  there  until  he  could  get  to- 
gether quite  a  number  of  slaves,  and  then  take  what  con- 
veyances were  needed  to  transport  the  negroes  and  their 


JOHN    BROWN    AMONG    THE    QUAKERS.       2Q 

as  afterwards  Smith  and  Sanborn,  tried  to 
dissuade  him  from  attempting  this  hardy 
enterprise.  Mr.  Maxon's  sons  say  that,  on 
more  than  one  occasion,  their  father  sat  up  late 
into  the  night  with  Brown  contending  with 
him  on  the  practicability  and  utility  of  his 
scheme.  But  he  was  inflexible.  He  not  only 
had  all  faith  in  his  little  band,  pronouncing 
every  one  of  them  a  brave  man,  but  believed 
himself  to  be  the  especial  instrument  of  God 
for  the  destruction  of  slavery. 

There  were  other  incidents  of  John  Brown's 
brief  stay  in  Springdale.  The  following  is  one 
of  them.  One  day  he  was  sitting  in  the  house 
of  Mr.  Griffith  Lewis.  Mrs.  Lewis  sat  near 
by.  Her  youngest  daughter — a  school-girl — 
took  a  pair  of  scissors,  and,  standing  behind 

families  to  Canada.  And  in  a  short  time  after  the  excite- 
ment had  abated,  to  make  a  strike  in  some  other  Southern 
State;  and  to  continue  on  making  raids,  as  opportunity 
offered,  until  slavery  ceased  to  exist.  I  did  my  best  to  con- 
vince him  that  the  probabilities  were  that  all  would  be  killed. 
He  said  that,  as  for  himself,  he  was  willing  to  give  his  life 
for  the  slaves.  He  told  me  repeatedly,  while  talking,  that 
he  believed  he  was  an  instrument  in  the  hands  of  God 
thBough  which  slavery  would  be  abolished.  I  said  to  him : 
'You  and  your  handful  of  men  cannot  cope  with  the  whole 
South.'  His  reply  was:  'I  tell  you,  Doctor.it  will  be  the 
beginning  of  the  end  of  slavery.'  He  also  told  me  that  but 
two  of  his  men,  Kagi  and  Stephens,  knew  what  his  inten- 
tions were." — From  Letter  of  Dr.  H.  C.  Gill,  dated  June 
1st,  1892. 


30      JOHN    BROWN    AMONG    THE    QUAKERS 

Brown's  chair,  lifted  them  as  if  to  cut  a  lock 
from  his  hair,  at  the  same  time  casting  an  en- 
quiring glance  at  her  mother.  "  John  Brown," 
said  Mrs.  Lewis,  "my  daughter  wishes  a  lock 
of  thy  hair."  "  Well,  she  can  have  it,"  said 
Brown,  "  but  I  would  advise  her  to  burn  it." 
It  was  not  burned,  and  is  still  in  the  posses- 
sion of  the  daughter — a  valued  keepsake. 

At  the  time  John  Brown's  men  were  stay- 
ing at  Springdale,  there  were  living  with  their 
mother  in  the  village,  in  a  quaint  frame  house 
yet  standing,  two  young  men  of  strong  char- 
acter, Edwin  and  Barclay  Coppoc.  Edwin 
was  twenty-four  years  old  and  Barclay  twenty. 
Barclay,  being  in  danger  from  consumption, 
had  found  it  necessary  to  travel,  and  for  a 
time  had  served  with  a  Company  of  liberators 
in  Kansas.  They  both  took  much  interest  in 
Brown,  his  men  and  his  cause,  and  at  length 
enlisted  under  his  leadership. 

On  April  27th,  Brown  returned  from  the 
East  with  some  funds  in  hand  and  more 
promised,  and  gave  orders  for  the  expedition 
to  move.  He  wrote  to  his  wife  :  "  We  start 
from  here  to-day,  and  shall  write  you  again 
when  we  stop,  which  will  be  in  two  or  three 
days."  The  immediate  destination  of  the 
band  proved  to  be  Chatham,  Canada  West. 
The  leave-taking  between  them  and  the  peo- 


JOHN    BROWN    AMONG   THE    QUAKERS.      3! 

pie  of  Springdale  was  one  of  tears.  Ties 
which  had  been  knitting  through  many  weeks 
were  sundered,  and  not  only  so,  but  the 
natural  sorrow  at  parting  was  intensified  by 
the  consciousness  of  all  that  the  future  was  full 
of  hazard  for  Brown  and  his  followers.  Before 
quitting  the  house  and  home  of  Mr.  Maxon 
where  they  had  spent  so  long  a  time,  each  of 
Brown's  band  wrote  his  name  in  pencil  on  the 
wall  of  the  parlor,  where  the  writing  still  can 
be  seen  by  the  interested  traveler.  The  part 
of  the  wall  where  the  names  are  written  is 
protected  by  a  door  opening  against  it,  and  to 
this  cause,  doubtless,  is  chiefly  due  the  preser- 
vation of  the  writing  for  more  than  thirty 
years.  The  old  house  itself,  which  was  built 
of  cement  and  gravel  in  1839,  is  still  standing, 
but  for  a  good  while  has  been  unoccupied.  It 
is  falling  into  decay,  yet  is  full  of  interest. 
I  went  to  see  it  not  many  weeks  ago  accom- 
panied by  a  son  of  Mr.  William  Maxon.  The 
boundaries  of  the  old  drill  ground  near  by 
still  can  be  made  out.  The  old  evergreen 
trees  still  shade  the  structure  on  all  sides.  The 
path  that  formerly  led  to  the  front  door  is 
grass -grown  and  obscured,  but  still  can  be 
traced  between  the  two  large  lilac  bushes  that 
to-day  stand  on  either  side  of  it,  as  they  did 
when  Brown's  band  first  approached  the  house. 


32      JOHN    BROWN    AMONG    THE    QUAKERS. 

The  large  west  front  room  in  which  the  mock 
legislature,  as  well  as  informal  talks  of  the 
band,  were  held,  is  well  preserved ;  also  the 
commodious  kitchen  where  the  meals  were 
served  by  Mrs.  Maxon,— a  woman  as  resolute 
and  uncompromising  in  her  abolitionism  as 
was  her  husband  in  his,  and  who  still  lives  at 
an  advanced  age, — and  the  small  attic  bed- 
room in  which  Owen  Brown  used  to  practice 
short-hand  which  he  was  learning  from  Kagi, 
and  where  all  the  band  slept.  The  cellar  of 
this  old  house  is  hardly  less  interesting  than 
the  house  itself ;  for  in  it,  in  the  days  of 
slavery,  Mr.  Maxon  constantly  was  keeping 
hid  small  parties  of  fugitive  negroes  from  Mis- 
souri. The  fire-place  by  which  it  was  made 
comfortable  in  winter,  may  still  be  seen. 

The  men  who  left  Springdale  with  Brown, 
besides  those  who  originally  had  come  there 
with  him,  were  George  B.  Gill  and  Steward 
Taylor — the  latter  a  young  Canadian.  The 
Coppocs  did  not  go  with  him,  but  were  in- 
tending to  join  him  soon.  On  reaching 
Chatham,  Canada  West,  arrangements  were 
made  for  holding  a  Constitutional  Convention. 
Richard  Realf  wrote  to  Dr.  Gill  on  April  3oth: 
"  Here,  [at  Chatham]  we  intend  to  remain 
till  we  have  perfected  our  plans,  which  will  be 
in  about  ten  days  or  two  weeks,  after  which 


•    JOHN    BROWN    AMONG    THE    QUAKERS.      33 

we  start  for  China.  Yesterday  and  this  morn- 
ing we  have  been  very  busy  in  writing  to  Gerritt 
Smith,  and  Wendell  Phillips  and  others  of  like 
kin  to  meet  us  in  this  place  on  Saturday,  the 
8th  of  May,  to  adopt  our  Constitution, decide 
a  few  matters,  and  bid  us  good-bye.  Then 

we  start The  signals  and  mode  of 

writing  are  (the  old  man  [John  Brown]  in- 
forms me)  all  arranged Remember 

me  to  all  who  know  our  business,  but  to  all 
others  be  dumb  as  death."  The  Convention 
assembled  on  the  8th  of  May,  adopted  the  Con- 
stitution which  has  been  so  much  wondered 
at  and  derided,  and  two  days  later  proceeded 
to  name  officers  for  the  government  which  had 
been  established.  John  Brown  was  named 
as  Commander  in  Chief,  Kagi,  as  Secretary  of 
War,  Richard  Realf,  as  Secretary  of  State, 
and  George  B.  Gill,  as  Secretary  of  the  Treas- 
ury. But  meantime  Hugh  Forbes  had  been 
busy  writing  letters  to  Sanborn,  Dr.  Howe 
and  Theodore  Parker  in  which  he  threatened 
to  tell  all  that  he  knew  of  Brown's  plans.  He 
even  wrote  to  Senators  Sumner  and  Wilson, 
and  managed  to  get  an  interview  with  Senator 
Seward  at  Washington.  In  view  of  these  facts, 
it  was  decided  by  Gerritt  Smith  and  Brown's 
friends  in  Massachusetts  (with  the  exception 
of  Mr.  T.  W.  Higginson  who  protested  against 


34      JOHN    BROWN    AMONG    THE    QUAKERS. 

the  decision)  that  the  scheme  must  for  the 
present  be  abandoned.  Brown,  therefore,  was 
hastily  summoned  to  meet  George  L.  Stearns, 
and  others  of  his  friends  in  New  York,  in 
which  city  he  arrived  about  May  22d.  On 
May  24th,  a  consultation  was  held  in  Boston 
between  Smith,  Parker,  Howe,  Stearns,  and 
Sanborn,  and  the  conclusion  reached  that 
Brown  must  immediately  go  to  Kansas  and 
should  be  provided  with  money  to  that  end, 
and,  for  the  present  to,  no  other.  On  May 
3ist,  Brown  called  on  Higginson,  expressed 
his  disappointment  at  the  action  taken  by 
Smith,  Parker  and  the  others,  and  plainly 
intimated  that,  were  it  not  for  his  dependence 
upon  these  gentlemen  for  money,  he  would 
proceed  to  the  consummation  of  his  Virginia 
undertaking,  Forbes  or  no  Forbes. 

Brown's  men  were  compelled  to  separate 
by  this  new  turn  in  affairs  and  to  find,  as  best 
they  could,  a  temporary  means  of  livelihood. 
Brown  himself,  his  indomitable  second  in 
command,  Kagi,  and  Charles  P.  Tidd  went  to 
Kansas,  where  they  were  soon  joined  by 
Stephens.  Realf  was  sent  to  New  York  to 
stop  the  mouth  of  Forbes  ;  Gill  came  back  to 
Iowa ;  Owen  Brown,  Parsons,  and  Moffat 
went  to  Ohio  ;  Cook,  after  some  little  time 
spent  in  Ohio,  went  forward  to  Harper's 


JOHN    BROWN    AMONG    THE    QUAKERS.      35 

Ferry,  Virginia,  where  he  carefully  took  note 
of  everything  ;  studied  the  formation  of  the 
country  and  ascertained  the  whereabouts  of 
the  dwellings  of  prominent  persons.  It  thus 
becomes  apparent  that,  at  least  by  this  time, 
Harper's  Ferry  had  been  definitely  selected 
by  Brown  as  the  point  of  invasion,  and  that 
Cook  had  been  so  apprised 

The  homesickness  which  beset  the  hearts 
of  the  little  company,  after  their  separation 
from  Springdale  friends  and  scenes,  is  made 
plain  by  the  following  letter  from  John  E. 
Cook,  which  has  not  before  been  in  print. 

CHATHAM,  CANADA  WEST,  May  6th,  1858. 
MY  DEAR  SISTERS  :' 

I  feel  lonely  here,  and  having  at  present  nothing 
to  do,  I  have  concluded  to  let  my  pen  follow  my 
thoughts,  and  so  I  am  writing  to  you.  I  am  here, 
but  my  mind  and  heart  are  with  you  in  your  happy 

home I  wish  to   write    to    my    parents, 

sisters  and  brother,  but  dare  not  at  present  on 
account  of  future  plans.  For,  should  they  know 
that  I  am  stopping  here,  it  would  awaken  suspicion 
as  to  the  cause  of  it.  And  then,  besides,  Mr.  B. 
[John  Brown]  says  he  had  rather  we  would  not 
write  until  we  leave  here  ;  for  which  request  he 

has  good  reasons Time  hangs  heavily  on 

my  hands  while  waiting  here  ;  and  there  is  but 

'The  young  women  of  one  of  the  Springdale  families  in 
which  Cook  had  become  intimate. 


36      JOHN    BROWN    AMONG    THE    QUAKERS. 

one  thing  that  keeps  me  from  being  absolutely 
unhappy,  and  that  is  the  consciousness  that  I  am 
in  the  path  of  duty.  I  long  for  the  loth  of  May 
[the  day  fixed  upon  for  the  final  proceedings  at 
Chatham]  to  come.  I  am  anxious  to  leave  this 
place  ;  to  have  my  mind  occupied  with  the  great 
work  of  our  mission.  [The  Virginia  enterprise 
was  frequently  referred  to  by  Brown's  men  as  a 
mission.]  For,  amid  the  bustling,  busy  scenes  of 
the  camp,  I  should  be  less  lonely  and  therefore 
more  happy  than  at  present.  I  did  not  know  till 
I  left  you  that  there  was  so  much  of  selfishness  in 
my  nature;  that  there  would  be  so  great  a  struggle 
between  the  desires  of  a  selfish  heart  and  my 
manifest  duty.  But  so  it  is.  We  do  not  know 
ourselves  till  we  are  tried  in  the  great  crucible  of 
time  and  circumstances 

The  prospects  of  our  cause  are  growing  brighter 
and  brighter.  Through  the  dark  gloom  of  the 
future  I  fancy  I  can  almost  see  the  dawning  light 

of  Freedom  ; that  I  can  almost  hear  the 

swelling  anthem  of  Liberty  rising  from  the  millions 
who  have  but  just  cast  aside  the  fetters  and  the 
shackles  that  bound  them.  But  ere  that  day 
arrives,  I  fear  that  we  shall  hear  the  crash  of  the 
battle  shock  and  see  the  red  gleaming  of  the  can- 
non's lightning. 

By  the  way,  the  Lecompton  Bill  has  passed  both 
Houses,  and  poor  Kansas  is  admitted  into  the 
Union  as  a  slave  State.  You  see,  therefore,  that 
my  prophecy  in  regard  to  that  matter  is  fulfilled. 


JOHN    BROWN    AMONG    THE    QUAKERS.      37 

Well,  taking  all  things  into  consideration,  I  am 
not  sorry  that  it  has  passed,  for  it  will  help  us  in 
our  work.  I  shall  expect  to  hear  of  some  hard 
battles  in  Kansas. 

Enclosed  you  will  find  a  few  flowers  that  I 
gathered  in  my  rambles  about  town.  They  are 
the  earliest  flowers  that  bloom  in  this  region. 

Accept  them  with  my  best  wishes Realf 

asks  to  be  remembered  and  sends  his  best 
wishes  for  your  welfare.  We  are  all  well  save 
hard  colds 

I  remain,  as  ever,  your  affectionate  brother, 

J.  E.  COOK. 

P.  S.  Please  direct  to  me  in  care  of  E.  A.  Fobes, 
Lindenville,  Ashtabula  County,  Ohio. 

Write  immediately, 

J.  E.  COOK. 

As  soon  as  Brown  began  to  get  distinct 
intimations  from  his  friends  in  the  east  that 
funds  would  not  be  forthcoming  for  the 
immediate  prosecution  of  his  Virginia  scheme, 
he  made  known  the  fact  to  his  band,  and  to 
some  of  them,  who  had  gone  to  Ohio  to  find 
work,  wrote  the  two  letters  printed  below. 
These  letters  are  not  to  be  found  in  any  life 
of  Brown,  nor,  I  think,  in  any  of  the  magazine 
articles  about  him  which  have  appeared. 


38      JOHN    BROWN    AMONG    THE    QUAKERS. 

CHATHAM,  CANADA  WEST,  i8th  of  May,  1858. 
Dear  Friends,  All : — 

The  letter  of  George  [B.  Gill],  of  the  I3th  inst., 
is  received,  by  which  we  learn  of  your  safe  arrival; 
also  that  you  do  not  find  the  best  encouragement 
about  business.  I  will  only  inquire  if  you,  any  of 
you,  think  the  difficulties  you  have  experienced  so 
far,  are  sufficient  to  discourage  a  man  ?  I  should 
not  hesitate  for  one  moment  to  inquire  out  some 
good  farmer's  family  in  the  country  and  say  to 
them  [that]  I  was  travelling  to  Pennsylvania,  or 
some  other  part  East ;  that  I  had  got  out  of  money, 
and  wanted  work  for  a  while  ;  that  I  did  not  wish 
to  engage  for  a  long  time  until  I  could  see  whether 
I  could  give  satisfaction  or  not,  and  whether  I 
should  like  to  stay  or  not.  I  would  offer  to  work  a 
few  days  for  my  board,  and  just  what  more  a  respec- 
table man  would  be  willing  to  give  me,  on  trial.  In 
that  way  I  would  save  my  board  bill,  at  any  rate, 
and  be  making  acquaintances  and  be  finding  out 
about  chances  and  wages.  I  would  not  be  afraid 
of  spoiling  myself  by  working  hard  on  such  con- 
ditions for  a  few  days.  I  and  three  others  were 
in  exactly  such  a  fix  in  the  spring  of  1817,  between 
the  seaside  and  Ohio,  in  a  time  not  only  of  extreme 
scarcity  of  money,  but  of  the  greatest  distress  for 
want  of  provisions  known  during  the  nineteenth 
century.  It  was  the  next  year  after  the  "  cold 
summer,"  as  it  has  ever  since  been  called  ;  and, 
would  you  believe  it?  some  of  that  company  are 
on  their  legs  yet.  I  would  say  I  was  going 
to  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  or  to  Bedford,  or  to  Chambers- 


JOHN    BROWN    AMONG    THE    QUAKERS.       39 

burg,  or  to  some  other  large  town  in  that  direction. 
We  shall  all  be  obliged  to  hold  on  somewhere 
until  we  can  get  more  funds,  and  until  we  can 
know  better  how  to  act.  We  here  are  busy  getting 
information  and  making  other  preparations.  I 
believe  no  time  has  yet  been  lost.  Owing  to  the 
panic  on  the  part  of  some  of  our  Eastern  friends, 
we  may  be  compelled  to  hold  on  for  months  yet. 
But  what  of  that?  What  lam  most  afraid  of  is 
that  some  of  you  will  be  in  great  distress  to  show 
your  arms,  or  to  show  yourselves  to  be  something 
uncommon,  or  something  to  gain  notice,  or  to  get 
some  help  to  keep  the  knowledge  you  have  of 
your  own  business.  I  am  sure  that  "where  there 
is  a  will  there  is  a  way."  I  am  negotiating  about 
that  way,  as  fast  as  possible.  I  would  like  to  have 
you  keep  track  of  each  other,  so  that  all  can  col- 
lect when  best,  and  do  not  spoil  any  work  by 
impatience.  You  shall  be  posted  up,  as  soon  as 
anything  comes  to  post  up  with.  It  is  all  well 
that  you  are  not  here ;  this  is  no  place  for  you. 
You  may  see  some  or  all  of  us  soon  ;  or  you  may 
not  for  some  days.  I  want  all  to  see  this  who  can. 
You  will  get  something  more  soon. 

Your  Friend. 

I  wrote  as  above  because  of  the  vein  of  blue 
your  letter  seems  to  contain." 

To  this  letter  the   following  postscript  was 
appended  by  Richard  Realf : 

P.  S.  Dear  George,  and  dear  friends,  all : 
Last  night  I  received  the  letter  alluded  to  in 


40      JOHN    BROWN    AMONG    THE    QUAKERS. 

"  Uncle's  "  together  with  the  postage  stamps,  for 
which  I  thank  Owen.  I  do  not  wonder  at  your 
impatience  ;  it  is  natural  that  men  who  have  cut 
themselves  loose  from  all  other  associations,  pur- 
posely to  devote  themselves  to  a  great  and  worthy 
end,  should  be  chafed  by  difficulties  and  delays. 
Yet  in  the  exact  proportion  of  our  true  devotion 
to  this  cause,  will  be  the  true  adherence  unto  it, 
though  months  and  years  may  intervene  before  we 
can  make  our  hope  a  reality.  Having  devoted  our 
lives  to  this  matter,  our  lives  necessarily  belong  to 
it — no  moment  of  time  is  ours — it  is  all  its  :  a  little 
earlier  or  later  does  not  matter ;  for  remember 
that  "  they  also  serve  who  only  stand  and  wait." 
• '  Instant  in  season  and  out  of  season,"  is  the  mark 
of  true  manhood ;  perhaps  this  delay  was  meant 
to  test  us — to  try,  not  our  intensity  of  feeling,  but 
our  calmness  of  endurance.  "  He  who  endureth 
unto  the  end,"  you  know ;  and  the  end  of  this 
cloud  will  come ;  perhaps  it  is  very  nigh  unto  us. 
Let  us  believe  in  God.  I  know  he  will  not  let  his 
work  go  unfinished.  Much  love  from  all  to  all. 
No  letters  from  our  friends  in  Iowa.  Look  up  !  the 
darkest  hour  is  just  before  the  dawn.  I  will  write 
you  again  at  more  length  soon.  Truly,  R.  R." 

CHATHAM,  CANADA  WEST,  May  2ist,  1858. 
Dear  Son  [Owen  Brown]  and  other  friends,  all : 

The  letters  of  three  of  your  number  are  received, 
dated  on  the  i6th  by  which  we  learn  the  difficul- 
ties you  find  in  getting  employment.  It  appears 
that  all  but  three  have  managed  to  stop  their 


JOHN  BROWN  AMONG  THE  QUAKERS.   4! 

board  bills  ;  and  I  do  hope  that  the  balance  will 
follow  the  man-like  and  noble  example  of  patience 
and  perseverance  set  them  by  the  others,  instead 
of  being  either  discouraged  or  out  of  humor. 
The  weather  is  so  wet  here  that  no  work  can  be 
obtained.  I  have  only  received  $15  as  yet  from 
the  East ;  and  such  has  been  the  effect  of  the 
course  taken  by  F.  [Forbes]  on  our  eastern  friends 
that  I  have  some  fears  that  we  shall  be  compelled 
to  delay  further  action  for  the  present.  They  urge 
us  to  do  so ;  promising  liberal  assistance  after  a 
while.  I  am  in  hourly  expectation  of  help  suffi- 
cient to  pay  off  our  bills  here  and  to  take  us 
on  to  Cleveland  to  see  and  advise  with  you,  which 
we  shall  do  at  once  when  we  get  the  means.  Sup- 
pose we  do  have  to  defer  our  direct  efforts ;  shall 
great  and  noble  minds  either  indulge  in  useless 
complaints,  or  fold  their  arms  in  discouragement, 
or  sit  in  idleness  when  at  least  we  may  avoid  los- 
ing much  gained?  It  is  in  times  of  difficulty  that 
men  show  what  they  are.  It  is  in  such  times  that 
men  mark  themselves.  "  He  that  endureth  unto  the 
end,"  the  same  shall  get  his  reward.  Are  our 
difficulties  sufficient  to  make  us  give  up  one  of  the 
noblest  enterprises  in  which  men  were  ever 
engaged?  Write  James  M.  Bell, 

Your  Sincere  Friend. 

Cook's  efforts  to  find  work,  in  accordance 
with  Brown's  advice  as  given  above,  are  told 
by  him  in  the  following  letter  to  his  Iowa 
correspondents.  The  penmanship  of  this 


42      JOHN    BROWN    AMONG    THE    QUAKERS. 

letter  is  not  a  little  remarkable,  being  not 
only  perfect  throughout,  but  in  part  executed 
with  such  minuteness  as  hardly  to  be  legible 
except  by  means  of  a  lens. 

LAWRENCE,  KANSAS,  June  6th,  1858. 
My  Dear  Sisters  : 

I  am,  as  you  see  by  the  date  of  this,  still  in 
Ohio.1  How  long  I  shall  remain  here  is  uncertain. 
But  I  hope  not  long,  for  I  am  tired  of  this  delay. 
There  are  two  causes  which  keep  us  here.  The 
first  and  most  important  one  is  the  want  of  funds 
to  take  us  to  our  destination.  Those  who  promised 
to  raise  the  money  at  the  shortest  notice  have 
failed  to  do  so.  So  we  are  detained.  And,  in 
order  that  the  Old  Gentleman  [John  Brown]  may 
save  the  little  he  has  got,  we  have  separated,  and 
are  most  of  us  working  for  our  board.  Times  are 
so  hard  here  that  we  can  get  no  chance  to  work 
for  wages,  and  so  we  have  concluded  to  do  the 
next  best  thing  we  can  do— get  our  living  by  our 
labor.  This,  for  me,  is  something  new,  and  it 
goes  rather  hard  ;  but  we  feel  that  it  is  in  a  good 
cause  and  so  we  take  it  patiently.  It  is  the  best 
test  that  could  be  made  of  our  fidelity  to  the  cause 
in  which  we  have  engaged.  Of  course  we  all  regret 
our  delay,  and  the  alternative  it  involves,  yet  no 
one  has  shrunk  from  accepting  it,  viz  :  Hard  labor 

'Above  the  words,  "  Lawrence,  Kansas,"  in  the  original 
letter,  is  written  in  lead  pencil,  "  Orange  Centre,  Ohio,"  at 
which  place  Cook  in  fact  was. 


JOHN    BROWN    AMONG    THE    QUAKERS.      43 

for  the  mere  pittance  of  our  food1  till  such  time 
as  we  can  raise  funds  enough  to  take  us  onward 
to  the  chosen  field  of  our  labor. 

I  am  with  a  farmer  by  the  name  of  Hayward,  in 
this  place.  I  wrote  on  to  Kansas  two  days  ago,  to 

1  As  revealing  still  more  clearly  the  straitened  circum- 
stances of  Brown's  band  after  the  separation  at  Chatham, 
Canada  West,  the  following  letter  from  Luke  F.  Parsons  to 
George  B.  Gill  is  here  printed  for  the  first  time: 

CLEVELAND  [OHIO],  May  26th,  1858. 
Dear  Friend  George : 

I  have  just  received  your  letter  for,  or  directed  to,  A. 
Stephens.  Why  did  you  not  direct  to  me?  I  came  very 

near  not  opening  it I  will  immediately  write  to 

Cook,  who  is  at  Orange,  and  not  doing  anything  as  yet.  He 
intends  to  get  up  a  writing  school,  but  it  is  not  at  all  likely 
that  he  can  do  so  these  hard  times.  Tidd,  Whipple  and 
Taylor  are  working  among  the  Shakers  for  fifty  cents  a  day. 

Taylor  told  a  hard   story  of  suffering,  privations 

and  fatigue.  He  laid  out  one  night  with  another  poor  devil 
like  himself.  While  I  write  Owen  [Brown]  comes  in.  He 
is  going  to  leave  the  place  where  he  is,  for  the  old  man  [his 
employer]  is  so  cross  that  they  cannot  agree.  He  will  take 
"  French  leave."  He  thinks  of  going  to  his  brother's  in 
Akron.  Have  not  heard  one  word  from  anyone  but  Moffat. 
He  is  at  home  and  is  going  to  Lindenville  to-day.  He  talks 

rather  blue.    I  am  afraid  that  we  have  lost  him I 

don't  get  a  d d  thing  to  do  yet.   To-day  I  went  to  the  City 

prison,  but  I  don't  think  I  should  like  to  board  there.  It  is 
very  necessary  that  some  one  stay  here  to  attend  to  the  P.  O. 
and  to  watch  for  some  of  the  rest.  But  to-morrow  my  board 
for  one  week  will  be  due,  and  after  paying  that  I  shall  only 
have  money  enough  to  pay  one  week  more.  Write  soon 

again;  tell  me   all   the   particulars Keep   a  stiff 

upper  lip.  Set  your  face  Zionward.  Be  sure  and  write 
immediately.  From  your  Brother, 

L.  F.  PARSONS. 


44      JOHN    BROWN    AMONG    THE    QUAKERS. 

see  what  chance  there  would  be  for  the  sale  of 
some  of  my  property  there.  [Cook,  before  join- 
ing Brown,  had  been  engaged  in  the  real  estate 
business  at  Lawrence,  Kansas,  with  a  man  by  the 
name  of  Bacon :  the  firm  name  was  Cook  & 
Bacon.] 

If  I  can  effect  a  sale  we  will  leave  here  immedi- 
ately. But  I  do  not  wish  to  give  it  away  or  to 
dispose  of  it  for  one  fourth  its  value.  You  can  see 
from  this  that  our  way,  even  thus  early,  is  not  all 
sunshine.  Then  there  is  another  cause  of  delay. 
One  of  those  entrusted  with  our  secret  [Forbes] 
has  behaved  rather  treacherously.  But  to  what 
extent  his  treachery  goes,  I  do  not  as  yet  know. 
However,  that  would  not  keep  us  back,  even  for  a 
moment,  if  we  had  the  means  to  carry  us  on  to  the 
place  of  our  destination.  But  we  live  in  hopes, 
and  are  looking  for  the  dawn  of  a  brighter  morrow. 
God  grant  that  our  waiting  may  not  be  long  ! 

I  am  lonely  here My  thoughts  are 

ever  going  back  to  the  happy  hours  I  have  spent 

with  my  friends  in  Springdale I  came  as 

a  stranger;  I  was  treated  as  a  friend  and  brother; 
and  in  turn  you  have  my  undying  gratitude  and 
affection.  The  parting  hour  came  ;  higher,  holier 
duties  called  me,  and  I  left  you  — probably  for- 
ever  

But  I  must  close  these  hasty  and  imperfect 
lines.  Please  give  my  love  to  sisters  Phebe, 
Sarah  and  Agnes.  I  should  have  given  them  a 
share  in  this  letter,  only  as  they  do  [not]  know  our 
destination,  I  did  not  know  as  it  would  be  best  to 


JOHN    BROWN    AMONG    THE    QUAKERS.      45 

inform  them  yet.  You  can,  however,  read  this 
page  to  them,  if  you  like,  as  the  sentiments  it  con- 
tains are  theirs  as  well  as  yours.  The  rest  of  it 
I  shall  expect  will  be  kept  a  secret  from  all,  save 
those  who  know  our  secret.  Please  write  me  a 
long  letter  on  receipt  of  this.  I  shall  expect 
either  a  long  letter  from  you  collectively,  or  else  a 
good  one  from  each  one  of  you.  As  I  do  not 
know  how  long  I  shall  remain  here,  please  direct 
to  me  in  care  of  E.  A.  Fobes,  Lindenville,  Ashta- 
bula  County,  Ohio.  Give  my  kind  regards  to 
Fanny  Jones,  and  also  to  all  inquiring  friends  in 
Springdale.  I  am  stopping  at  Orange  Centre,  a 
place  about  fourteen  miles  from  Cleveland.  I 
shall,  however,  date  this,  Lawrence,  Kansas,  for 
reasons  which  you  will  readily  guess  and  appreci- 
ate. Esther  and  Elvira  will  please  read  this,  and 
then  send  it  as  soon  as  possible  to  Laura,  who  in 
turn  will  send  it  to  Eliza.  Accept  with  these  lines 
my  best  wishes  and  most  fervent  prayers  for  your 
present  and  eternal  welfare,  and  may  God  speed 
you  in  joy  upon  your  way.  From  him  who  here 
subscribes  himself  your  brother  in  affection, 

JOHN  EDWIN  COOK. 

Cook's  next  letter  to  his  Springdale  corre- 
spondents, and  the  last  that  I  have  been  able 
to  find  written  before  the  Harper's  Ferry 
affair,  bears  date,  Harper's  Ferry,  Va.,  July 
3d,  1858.  It  is  in  a  rhapsodical  strain,  to 
which  Cook  was  a  good  deal  inclined,  and 
contains  nothing  of  interest. 


46      JOHN    BROWN    AMONG    THE    QUAKERS. 

The  story  of  Brown's  raid  into  Missouri, 
after  his  return  to  Kansas,  in  1858,  is  well 
known.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that  on  this  raid  he 
took  from  their  owners  a  dozen  slaves  with 
whom,  aided  by  Kagi  and  Stephens,  amid 
great  perils  he  made  good  his  escape  into 
Nebraska,  and  thence  to  Tabor  in  Iowa. 
Here,  contrary  to  his  expectation  and  con- 
trary to  the  whole  former  attitude  of  the 
people,  he  was  not  welcomed,  but,  at  a  public 
meeting  called  for  the  purpose,  severely  rep- 
rimanded as  a  disturber  of  the  peace  and 
safety  of  the  village.  Effecting  a  hasty  de- 
parture from  Tabor,  and  taking  advantage  of 
the  protection  offered  by  a  few  friendly  fam- 
ilies on  the  way,  he  and  his  party  of  fugitives 
came,  on  February  2oth,  1859,  to  Grinnell, 
Iowa,  where  they  were  cordially  received  by 
the  Hon.  J.  B.  Grinnell  who  entertained 
them  in  his  house.  Brown's  next  stop  was 
made  at  Springdale,  which  place  he  reached 
on  February  25th.  Here  the  fugitives  were  dis- 
tributed among  the  Quaker  families  for 
safety  and  rest  before  continuing  their  jour- 
ney to  Canada.  But  soon  rumors  were  afloat 
of  the  coming  of  the  United  States  Marshal, 
and  it  became  necessary  to  secure  for  the 
negroes  railroad  transportation  to  Chicago. 
Kagi  and  Stephens,  disguised  as  sportsmen, 


JOHN    BROWN    AMONG    THE    QUAKERS.      47 

walked  to  Iowa  City,  enlisted  the  services  of 
Mr.  William  Penn  Clark,  an  influential  anti- 
slavery  citizen  of  that  place,  and  by  his  efforts, 
supplemented  by  those  of  Hon.  J.  B.  Grinnell, 
a  freight  car  was  got  and  held  in  readiness  at 
West  Liberty. 

The  negroes  were  then  brought  down  from 
Springdale  (distant  but  six  miles)  and,  after 
spending  a  night  in  a  grist  mill  near  the  rail- 
way station,  were  ready  to  embark.  It  is  an 
interesting  scene  that  was  beheld  by  the 
people  of  West  Liberty  this  March  day  of 
1859  on  which  John  Brown  was  loading  his 
car  with  dusky  passengers  for  Canada  and 
Freedom.  Huddled  together  in  a  little  group 
near  the  track,  stand  the  negroes,  patient, 
wondering.  Near  them,  leaning  on  their 
Sharp's  rifles,  heavy  revolvers  in  their  belts, 
on  the  alert,  stand  Kagi  and  Stephens.  In  a 
few  minutes  the  freight  car  which  has  been 
got  with  so  much  trouble,  and  by  not  a  little 
prevarication  as  to  the  use  to  which  it  is  to  be 
put,  is  pushed  by  a  crowd  of  men  down  the 
side-track  to  a  point  convenient  for  the  load- 
ing. Brown  mounts  into  it  and  shakes  the 
door  and  lays  hold  of  the  sides  that  he  may 
judge  of  its  capacity  for  resistance  in  case  of 
attack.  Clean  straw  is  then  brought  to  him 
which  he  spreads  over  the  floor.  After  this, 


48      JOHN    BROWN    AMONG    THE    QUAKERS. 

the  negro  babes  and  small  children,  of  whom 
there  are  several,  are  handed  up  to  him  and 
he  tenderly  deposits  them  among  the  straw. 
The  older  negroes  are  next  helped  in,  and  all 
is  ready.  The  passenger  train  on  the  Chicago 
and  Rock  Island  Road  rolls  in  from  the  West. 
For  a  moment  there  is  suspense.  Is  the 
United  States  Marshal  on  board  ?  No  !  The 
train  draws  out  from  the  station,  stops,  backs 
down  on  the  side-track  and  is  coupled  to  the 
freight  car.  Kagi  and  Stephens  get  into  one 
of  the  passenger  coaches,  and  John  Brown  is 
leaving  Iowa  for  the  last  time. 

Events  rapidly  transpired.  On  reaching 
Chicago,  Brown  and  his  party  were  taken  in 
friendly  charge  by  Allan  Pinkerton,  the 
famous  detective,  and  started  for  Detroit. 
On  March  icth,  they  were  in  Detroit  and 
practically  at  their  journey's  end.  From 
there  Brown  went  to  Peterboro,  New  York  ; 
then  to  Concord,  Massachusetts,  where  he 
again  spoke  in  the  town  hall,  making  a  deep 
impression  on  Henry  D.  Thoreau  ;  then  to 
Boston,  where  he  arrived  on  May  gth.  He 
left  Boston,  on  June  3d,  for  Ohio,  and,  on 
June  3oth,was  atChambersburg,  Pennsylvania. 
On  July  3d,  he  and  his  two  sons,  Owen  and 
Oliver,  were  at  Harper's  Ferry  where  they 
met  Cook.  On  July  i5th,  Brown  wrote  to 


JOHN    BROWN    AMONG    THE    QUAKERS.       49 

Edwin  and  Barclay  Coppoc  at  Springdale, 
requesting  that  they  join  him  at  Chambers- 
burg,  Pennsylvania.  They  required  no  second 
summons.  On  July  25th,  Barclay  said  to  his 
mother:  "We  are  going  to  start  for  Ohio 
to-day."  "Ohio!"  said  the  mother,  "I  be- 
lieve you  are  going  with  old  Brown.  When 
you  get  the  halters  round  your  necks  will  you 
think  of  me?" 

After  the  departure  of  Edwin  and  Barclay 
Coppoc,  almost  nothing  concerning  the  move- 
ments of  John  Brown  came  to  the  ears  of 
anybody  in  Springdale  till  October  lyth  or 
1 8th.  Then  a  thrill  of  terror  shot  through 
the  community.  A  telegraphic  despatch  in 
some  newspaper  stated  that  a  crazy  old  man 
and  some  twenty  followers  had  seized  the 
United  States  Arsenal  at  Harper's  Ferry,  Vir- 
ginia, and  were  holding  their  assailants,  Vir- 
ginia chivalry  and  United  States  Marines,  at 
bay.  On  October  2oth,  C.  W.  Moffat,  who 
by  this  time  had  returned  to  Springdale  and 
was  there  making  ready  to  join  Brown,  re- 
ceived the  following  letter  from  Kagi,  written 
the  night  before  the  foray  : 

We  hear  that  a  warrant  has  been  issued  to 
search  our  house  here  [the  house  on  the  Kennedy 
farm] ;  so  we  have  got  to  make  the  strike  eight 
days  sooner  than  the  date  fixed  in  our  previous 


50      JOHN    BROWN    AMONG    THE    QUAKERS. 

notice  to  you.     Start  at  once.     Study  map.1     We 
will  try  to  hold  out  till  you  reach  us. 

JOHN  H.  KAGI. 
Secretary  of  the  Constitutional  Convention. 

Little  by  little  the  details  of  the  affair  came 
to  light.  It  was  learned  that  Kagi,  Leeman, 
and  Taylor  had  been  shot  and  killed;  that 
John  Brown,  Edwin  Coppoc,  and  Stephens 
had  been  captured  ;  that  Owen  Brown,  Bar- 
clay Coppoc,  Cook,  and  Tidd  had  escaped ; 
and  that  Richard  Realf  had  not  been  of  the 
party  making  the  foray,  having  gone  to  Eng- 
land in  the  summer  of  i858,2  then  to  France, 
and  was  now  somewhere  in  the  southern 
States.  After  a  fortnight  further  news  came  : 
John  E.  Cook  had  been  captured.  Owen 
Brown,  Barclay  Coppoc,  and  Tidd  were  still 
at  liberty.  On  November  8th  or  loth,  Mrs. 

'The  map  referred  to  was  of  the  public  road  leading 
from  Harper's  Ferry  to  the  Kennedy  farm.  It  was  fur- 
nished so  that  Moffat  would  not  have  to  enquire  his  way 
to  the  rendezvous. 

2 On  July  28,  1858,  Richard  Realf  had  written  to  George 
B.  Gill  as  follows : 

Room  io,  16  Wall  Street,  New  York  City. 
DEAR  BRO.  GEORGE:  I  have  received  news  from  England. 
My  mother  is  very  sick.  If  I  can  arrange  matters,  I  shall 
run  across  to  see  her.  If  I  go,  I  shall  be  back  in  time. 
Indeed  I  am  somewhat  fearful  that  we  shall  not  commence 
before  next  spring.  Truly  Your  Bro., 

RICHARD. 


JOHN    BROWN    AMONG    THE    QUAKERS.       51 

Ann  Coppoc  received  a  letter  from  her  son, 
Edwin.  It  was  dated  Charlestown,  Va., 
November  5,  1859,  an^  to'd  briefly  the  fact 
of  his  capture.  It  ended  with  these  words : 
"Give  my  love  to  Briggs'  and  Maxons'  folks 
and  to  all  other  inquiring  friends,  for  [of] 
such  I  feel  that  I  have  a  large  circle;  and  I 
trust  that  what  I  have  done  will  not  make 
them  enemies.  My  love  to  all  the  family. 
No  more.  Edwin  Coppoc."  About  the  same 
time,  Dr.  H.  C.  Gill  received  from  Coppoc  a 
letter,  in  which  he  said:  "Whatever  maybe 
our  fate,  rest  assured  that  we  will  not  shame 
our  dead  companions  by  a  shrinking  fear." 
After  his  trial,  on  December  loth,  Coppoc 
wrote  to  Mr.  John  H.  Painter:  "To-day  we 
have  received  a  box  of  knick-knacks  from 
Philadelphia,  and  some  of  the  citizens  here 
send  us  in  a  pie  now  and  then ;  so  you  may 
know  that  we  live  fat,  but  it  is  only  fattening 
us  up  for  the  gallows — rather  poor  consola- 
tion." Finally,  on  December  i3th,  he  sent 
these  lines  to  his  uncle  in  Ohio :  "  I  have 
heard  my  sentence  passed ;  my  doom  is 
sealed.  But  two  brief  days  between  me  and 
eternity.  At  the  end  of  these  two  days  I 
shall  stand  upon  the  scaffold  to  take  my  last 
look  at  earthly  scenes.  But  that  scaffold  has 
but  little  dread  for  me,  for  I  honestly  believe 


52      JOHN    BROWN    AMONG   THE    QUAKERS. 

that  I  am   innocent  of  any  crime  justifying 
such  punishment." 

One  farewell  message  penned  by  Edwin 
Coppoc  is  of  extraordinary  interest.  It  is  in 
these  few,  yet  sufficient,  words  :  "Dear  Elza, 
Farewell.  Edwin  Coppoc."  The  person  to 
whom  the  message  is  addressed  is  one  of  the 
sons  of  Mr.  William  Maxon,  but  he  did  not 
know  of  the  message  or  receive  it  until  Edwin 
Coppoc  had  been  in  his  grave  for  more  than 
twenty-six  years.  The  facts  are  these  :  When 
Coppoc  left  Springdale  to  join  Brown  at 
Harper's  Ferry,  he  took  with  him  an  ambro- 
type  picture  of  his  friend,  Elza  Maxon.  The 
picture  was  contained  in  a  small  covered  case 
from  which  it  could  easily  be  removed.  Just 
before  his  execution,  Coppoc  took  out  the  pic- 
ture and  wrote  on  the  surface  of  that  part  of 
the  case  against  which  the  back  of  the  picture 
rested  the  words  above  quoted;  thinking 
naturally  enough  that,  when  his  personal 
effects  were  sent  home,  the  picture  would  be 
returned  to  Maxon,  and  sooner  or  later  the 
message  be  found.  But,  as  it  chanced,  Mrs. 
Coppoc  never  returned  the  picture  and  it 
remained  in  her  hands  until  she  died.  It 
was  then,  with  some  other  things  deemed 
rubbish,  thrown  into  a  corner  of  the  old  Cop- 
poc house  and  forgotten.  One  day  when 


JOHN    BROWN    AMONG    THE    QUAKERS.      53 

idly  looking  through  the  house,  Maxon  came 
upon  the  case,  opened  it,  found  the  picture, 
and,  impelled  by  some  strange  curiosity, 
removed  it.  The  message  had  come  at  last. 
But  meantime,  what  of  Barclay  Coppoc  ? 
He  got  to  Springdale  on  December  lyth,  after 
a  journey  of  a  month  through  the  mountains 
of  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania,  the  exciting 
particulars  of  which  have  been  narrated  by 
Owen  Brown1  in  a  paper  printed  in  the  At- 
lantic Monthly  for  March,  1877.  He  was 
thin  and  haggard  and  nearly  exhausted.  The 
welcome  that  met  him  was  warm  ;  it  was  tear- 
ful as  well.  On  the  day  before  that  on  which 
he  came,  his  brother,  Edwin,  and  John  E. 
Cook  had  died  upon  the  scaffold.  Nor  was 
he  safe  from  pursuit.  So  spent  were  his 
powers,  however,  that  his  friends  at  Spring- 
dale  resolved  to  protect  him  at  any  cost,  and 
banded  themselves  together  in  a  military  or- 
ganization to  that  end.  Nightly  guard  was 
kept  around  the  Coppoc  house,  and  at  a  pre- 
concerted signal  all  were  to  assemble.  Among 

'The  death  of  Owen  Brown  occurred  in  1888,  near  Pasa- 
dena, California,  where  he  was  living  with  his  brother, 
Jason,  and  his  sister,  Ruth.  The  funeral  services  were 
conducted  by  the  Quaker  preacher  of  the  locality  and  were 
attended  by  a  great  throng.  Among  the  pall-bearers  were 
the  two  staunch  friends  of  John  Brown  at  Springdale,  John 
H.  Painter  and  James  Townscnd,  both  of  whom  had  re- 
moved to  California. 


54      JOHN    BROWN    AMONG    THE    QUAKERS. 

those  thus  enlisted  were  some  who,  as  on  a 
certain  famous  occasion  in  Pennsylvania, 
afforded  the  unusual  spectacle  of  the  close 
juxtaposition  of  a  musket  and  a  broad- 
brimmed  hat. 

On  the  23d  of  January,  1860,  one  C.  Camp, 
as  agent  of  the  State  of  Virginia,  appeared  in 
Des  Moines,  Iowa,  and  served  upon  Governor 
Samuel  J.  Kirkwood  a  requisition  for  Barclay 
Coppoc.  For  some  reason  Camp  let  his 
errand  become  generally  known,  and  imme- 
diately steps  were  taken  by  the  sympathisers 
with  Coppoc  at  Des  Moines  to  advise  him  of 
his  peril.  The  legislature  was  in  session  and 
a  sum  of  money  was  hastily  raised  among  the 
members.  With  it  a  horseman  was  hired  to 
carry  to  Springdale  this  message  :  "  Des 
Moines,  January  24,  1860.  Mr.  J.  H.  Painter: 
There  is  an  application  for  young  Coppoc 
from  the  Governor  of  Virginia,  and  the  Gov- 
ernor here  will  be  compelled  to  surrender 
him.  If  he  is  in  your  neighborhood,  tell  him 
to  make  his  escape  from  the  United  States. 
Your  Friend."  But  Coppoc  would  not  go. 
It  did  not  in  this  instance  prove  to  be  neces- 
sary that  he  should,  for  the  requisition  was 
defective  in  form,  and  compliance  with  it  was 
refused  by  Governor  Kirkwood  on  that  ac- 
count. Later,  on  February  4th,  a  second 


JOHN    BROWN    AMONG    THE    QUAKERS.       55 

requisition  for  Barclay  Coppoc  was  made 
upon  Governor  Kirkwood,  and  being  in  due 
form  and  accompanied  by  copies  of  two  in- 
dictments found  against  Coppoc  by  the  grand 
jury  of  Jefferson  County,  Virginia,  was 
granted.  The  necessary  papers  were  put 
into  the  hands  of  the  sheriff  of  Cedar  County 
to  be  served  ;  but  that  functionary  skillfully 
evaded  a  most  ungrateful  and  dangerous  task 
by  going  to  Springdale  and  loudly  enquiring 
of  everybody  whom  he  met  for  Barclay  Cop- 
poc. He  did  not  find  him  and  made  official 
return  that  he  was  not  to  be  found  within  the 
limits  of  Cedar  County. 

It  was  now  thought  best  for  Coppoc  to  go 
to  Canada  and  remain  there  until  the  public 
mind  should  quiet  down.  To  do  this  he  re- 
luctantly consented,  and  in  disguise  and  ac- 
companied by  a  son  of  Mr.  Maxon,  he  went 
to  Detroit,  and  from  there  into  Canada.  But 
hearing  that  Owen  Brown,  John  Brown,  Jr., 
F.  J.  Merriam,  of  Massachusetts,  and  James 
Redpath  were  in  Ashtabula  county,  Ohio,  he 
went  thither,  still  accompanied  by  Maxon, 
and  there,  at  the  little  town  of  Dorset,  the  six 
men  stayed  for  three  weeks,  always  heavily 
armed  and  never  separated.  They  were  at  this 
place  on  March  16,  1860,  the  day  on  which 
Aaron  D.  Stephens  was  hanged.  In  1861 


56      JOHN    BROWN    AMONG    THE    QUAKERS. 

Barclay  Coppoc  enlisted  in  the  Union  army 
and  was  killed  in  a  railroad  wreck  at  a  cross- 
ing of  the  Platte  river  ;  the  wreck  was  caused 
by  the  Confederates  having  partially  sawed  in 
two  the  supports  to  the  bridge. 

None  of  John  Brown's  band,  even  in  the 
hour  of  his  extremity,  forgot  Springdale  or 
the  friends  there  made.  John  E.  Cook  wrote 
to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  James  Townsend  on  Decem- 
ber 15,  1859  :  "We  struck  a  blow  for  the  free- 
dom of  the  slave.  We  failed,  and  those  who 
are  not  already  dead  must  die,  and  that  upon 
the  scaffold.  Accept  my  love,  my  God-speed, 
and  my  last  farewell."  A  fortnight  earlier 
Aaron  D.  Stephens  had  written  as  follows  to 
Mrs.  Varney  :  "  I  feel  perfectly  guiltless  of 
the  charges  brought  against  me.  I  have  done 
nothing  but  what  I  think  is  right  and  just." 
As  for  Brown  himself,  he  told  Stephens  to  say 
for  him  that  he  wished  to  be  remembered  by 
all  the  kind  friends  at  Springdale.  "And," 
adds  Stephens,  "although  his  end  is  drawing 
nigh,  he  is  as  cheerful  as  if  he  were  in  your 
midst." 


Among  the  answers  made  by  Richard  Realf  in  his  exami- 
nation before  Senator  Mason's  committee  are  the  following: 
"  I  formed  the  acquaintance  of  John  Brown  the  last  of  No- 
vember or  the  first  of  December  [1857].  I  was  residing  in 
the  city  of  Lawrence,  Kansas,  as  correspondent  of  the 


JOHN    BROWN    AMONG    THE    QUAKERS.       57 

Illinois  State  Journal,  edited  by  Messrs.  Bailhache  &  Baker. 
1  had  been  and  was  a  radical  abolitionist.  In  November, 
1857,  John  Edwin  Cook,  recently  executed  in  Virginia,  came 
to  my  boarding  house  in  Lawrence,  bringing  me  an  invita- 
tion from  John  Brown  to  visit  him  at  a  place  called  Tabor, 
in  Iowa.  There  I  met  John  Brown.  John  Brown  made 
known  to  me  to  a  certain,  but  not  very  definite  and  detailed, 
degree  his  intentions.  He  stated  that  he  purposed  to  make 
an  incursion  into  the  Southern  States,  somewhere  in  the 
mountainous  region  of  the  Blue  Ridge  and  the  Alleghanies. 
From  Tabor,  where  I  myself  first  met  John  Brown  and  the 
majority  of  the  persons  forming  the  white  part  of  his  com- 
pany in  Virginia,  we  passed  across  the  State  of  Iowa,  until 
we  reached  Cedar  county  in  that  State.  We  started  in  De- 
cember, 1857.  It  was  about  the  end  of  December,  1857,  or 
the  beginning  of  January,  1858,  when  we  reached  Cedar 
county,  the  journey  thus  consuming  about  a  month  of  time. 
We  stopped  at  a  village  called  Springdale  in  that  county, 
where,  in  a  settlement  principally  composed  of  Quakers,  we 
remained.  Myself,  Mr.  Kagi,  Mr.  Cook,  Mr.  Stephens, 
Mr.  Tidd,  Mr.  Leeman,  Mr.  Moffat,  Mr.  Parsons,  and  Mr. 
Owen  Brown,  all  these  being  whites,  and  Mr.  Richard 
Richardson,  a  colored  man  whom  I  met  with  Brown  at 
Tabor,  composed  our  company.  We  remained  at  Spring- 
dale  from  the  month — whether  it  be,  I  cannot  now  remem- 
ber, the  latter  part  of  December,  1857,  or  the  beginning  of 
January,  1858, — but  from  that  time  up  until  about  the  last 
week  in  April  —  a  period  of  nearly  three  [four]  months. 
We  were  being  drilled  a  part  of  the  time  and  receiving  mili- 
tary lessons  under  Mr.  Stephens.  A  part  of  the  time  I  was 
lecturing.  Brown  provided  for  the  support  of  the  company 
whilst  we  were  there  in  this  way:  upon  reaching  there  he, 
finding  himself  unable  to  dispose  of  the  mules  and  wagons 
with  which  he  transported  us  across  the  State,  and  unable 
to  get  the  price  he  desired  for  them,  left  us  there  to  board, 
the  property  named  to  belong  to  the  man  who  kept  us,  a 
price  having  been  agreed  upon  between  himself  and  Mr. 
Brown.  We  boarded  with  a  Mr.  Maxon.  During  our  pas- 
sage across  Iowa  Brown's  plan  in  regard  to  an  incursion 


58      JOHN    BROWN    AMONG    THE    QUAKERS. 

into  Virginia  gradually  manifested  itself.  It  was  a  matter 
of  discussion  between  us  as  to  the  possibility  of  effecting  a 
successful  insurrection  in  the  mountains,  some  arguing  that 
it  was,  some  that  it  was  not;  myself  thinking  and  still  think- 
ing that  a  mountainous  country  is  a  very  fine  country  for  an 
insurrection,  in  which  I  am  borne  out  by  historic  evidence 
which  it  is  not  necessary  to  state  now.  Brown  expected  to 
make  his  incursion  into  Virginia  in  the  spring  of  1858.  We 
expected  Colonel  Forbes  to  be  our  military  instructor,  yet 
in  consequence  of  a  disagreement  between  himself  and  John 
Brown,  the  latter  wrote  us  from  the  East  that  Forbes  would 
not  become  our  military  instructor  and  that  we  should  not 
expect  him.  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  the  people  [of 
Springdale]  knew  nothing  at  all  of  our  movements,  for  the 
reason  that  by  some  we  were  suspected  to  be  Mormon  mis- 
sionaries. I  believe  that  John  Brown  had  given  a  man 
named  Townsend,  I  cannot  remember  his  first  narrie,  a 
member  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  some  indirect  and  indefi- 
nite hints  of  his  plan.  I  also  think  that  from  the  nature  of 
a  conversation  which  a  Mr.  Varney  (also  residing  in  the 
immediate  neighborhood,  and  being  also  a  Quaker,)  had 
with  myself,  someone  must  have  given  him  some  hints  in 
regard  to  the  same  matter;  but  neither  of  these  people 
were  evidently,  from  the  tone  of  their  conversation,  pos- 
sessed of  any  definite  information  in  regard  to  the  matter. 
Our  military  training  was  conducted  principally  behind  the 
house  of  Mr.  Maxon,  it  being  generally  understood  in  the 
place  where  we  were  boarding,  in  the  vicinity,  and  round 
about  that  we  were  thus  studying  tactics  and  being  thus 
drilled  in  order  to  return  to  Kansas,  to  prosecute  our  en- 
deavors to  make  Kansas  a  free  State.  We  had  our  private 
arms.  John  E.  Cook  had  his  own  private  arms.  I  had 
my  pair  of  Colt's  revolvers.  Brown  did  not,  to  my  knowl- 
edge, furnish  any  of  his  company  with  arms.  I  met  the 
people  composing  this  company  at  Tabor.  All  of  them  had 
been  engaged  in  Kansas  warfare.  Everybody  at  that  period 
in  Kansas  went  armed.  All  of  the  company  whom  I  have 
named  as  having  gone  to  Springdale  accompanied  Brown 
to  Chatham,  and  two  others,  a  young  man  named  George 


JOHN    BROWN-AMONG    THE    QUAKERS.       59 

B.  Gill,  who  resided  at  Springdale,  who  had  learned  of  our 
plans,  from  whom  I  do  not  know,  but  I  suppose  from  John 
Brown,  inasmuch  as  he  never  manifested  any  desire  to  ac- 
company us  anywhere  until  the  return  of  John  Brown;  and 
another  young  man  named  Stewart  [Steward]  Taylor,  the 
latter  of  whom  was  killed  at  Harper's  Ferry,  and  the  former 
of  whom ,  so  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  learn ,  was  not  present 
at  the  incursion. 


MASCOUTIN 


MASCOUTIN. 

A  REMINISCENCE  OF  THE  NATION  OF  FIRE. 

MASCOUTIN  (or  Muscatine,  as  the  spelling  and 
pronunciation  now  are,)  is  the  one  town  of  this 
name  in  the  United  States  of  America.  It  is 
situated  in  the  state  of  Iowa,  on  the  Missis- 
sippi river,  at  the  vertex  of  the  great  bend  into 
the  state  which  a  glance  at  the  map  will  show 
that  the  river  makes.  High  and  picturesque 
bluffs  overhang  the  river,  and  on  these  the 
town  of  Muscatine  is  built.  Southwest  of  the 
town  is  a  low,  flat,  sandy  tract  containing 
nearly  forty  thousand  acres — an  island  by 
natural  formation,  being  separated  from  the 
Illinois  shore  on  the  east  by  the  river,  and 
from  the  Iowa  shore  on  the  west  by  a  narrow, 
winding  slough.  The  name  of  this  island  is 
also  Muscatine  ;  and  it  is  worthy  of  remark 
that  it  bore  this  name  long  before  the  town 
of  Muscatine  was  founded,  and  indeed  from 
a  period  altogether  remote  and  indeterminate. 
The  derivation  of  this  name  Mascoutin, 
or  Muscatine,  has  ever  been  a  question  of 
interest  for  local  antiquarians.  That  it  is 
Indian  nobody  has  doubted  ;  but  with  re- 
63 


64  MASCOUTIN. 

gard  to  its  meaning  and  with  regard  to  the 
tribe  or  band  who  first  applied  it  to  the  island 
under  consideration,  opinions  have  differed. 
In  1852  the  editor  of  one  of  the  daily  papers 
printed  in  Muscatine  wrote  to  Antoine  le  Claire, 
at  Davenport,  Iowa,  for  a  definition  of  the  word 
Muscatine.  Le  Claire  was  of  French-Indian 
extraction,  and  in  pioneer  days  had  been  the 
official  interpreter  for  the  United  States  gov- 
ernment in  its  dealings  with  the  Indians  of 
eastern  Iowa,  chiefly  the  Sac  and  Fox  tribes  ; 
he  therefore  was  deemed  competent  to  define 
this  word.  His  reply  to  the  question  asked 
was  that  Muscatine  "  is  a  sort  of  combination 
of  an  Indian  and  French  word  :  mus-quo-ta, 
the  Indian  word,  means  '  prairie ' ;  the  French 
added  the  termination  tine  to  mus-quo-ta, 
and  the  compound  word  musquo,  or  musqui- 
tine,  means  '  little  prairie.'  The  Indian  word 
menis  means  '  island,'  ashcota  means  '  fire,' 
musquaw  means  'red.'  The  Indians  used  to 
call  the  island  Mus-quo-ta-menis,  which  means 
'  prairie  island.'" 

Le  Claire's  definition  never  has  been 
entirely  satisfactory  to  Muscatine  antiquari- 
ans. They  have  objected  to  it  on  poetic 
grounds  among  others.  For  years  after,  as 
doubtless  during  an  untold  period  before,  the 
town  of  Muscatine  was  founded,  (1839) 


MASCOUTIN.  65 

immense  fires  would  sweep  over  Muscatine 
island  in  the  autumn,  denuding  it  of  the  tall 
grass — grass  as  tall  as  a  mounted  man — with 
which  its  soil  was  covered.  "  Now,  what 
more  fitting,"  these  antiquarians  have  con- 
tended, "than  that  the  name  Muscatine 
should  signify  burning  or  fire  island?  What 
more  likely,  furthermore,  than  that  the 
Indians,  impressed  with  the  magnificent  and 
terrible  spectacle  of  the  writhing,  sweeping 
flames,  should  call  the  spot,  where  these 
flames  were  as  regularly  recurrent  as  the 
seasons,  by  some  name  significant  of 
them  ?  Finally,  in  addition  to  all  else,"  say 
the  antiquarians,  "  Antoine  le  Claire  himself, 
although  defining  the  word  Musquotamenis 
as  prairie  island,  states  the  meaning  of  the 
Indian  word  ashcota  to  be  fire,  and  the  mean- 
ing of  the  word  musquaw  to  be  '  red.'  A 
philological  support  is  therefore  suggested 
even  by  Le  Claire  for  the  argument  we  make 
in  favor  of  the  meaning,  burning  or  fire 
island.''  One  can  but  be  impressed  with  the 
force  of  the  reasoning. 

But  there  is  a  way  by  which  more  nearly  to 
reach  a  solution  of  this  problem  of  the  mean- 
ing of  the  word  Masroutin,  or  Muscatine  ;  and 
not  only  so,  but  of  the  no  less  difficult  pro- 
blem :  What  tribe  or  band  of  Indians  origin- 


66  MASCOUTIN. 

ally  gave  this  name  to  the  island.  In  the 
year  1669,  Father  Claude  Allouez,  a  Jesuit 
priest,  came  to  Green  Bay,  in  what  is  now  the 
state  of  Wisconsin,  for  the  purpose  of  estab- 
lishing a  mission.  While  there  he  ascended 
the  Fox  river,  passing  through  the  territory 
occupied  by  the  Sacs  and  Foxes,  and  came  at 
length  to  an  Indian  town  at  the  west  of  Lake 
Winnebago,  containing  a  population  of  some 
three  thousand  souls.  This  town  was  Mas- 
coutin  (aboriginal  Muscatine),  or  the  village 
of  the  Mascoutins — a  distinct  Indian  tribe. 
It  was  situated,  we  are  told,  "  on  the  crown  of 
a  hill  ;  while,  all  around,  the  prairie  stretched 
beyond  the  sight,  interspersed  with  groves 
and  belts  of  tall  forest."  Moreover,  it  was  a 
palisaded  town  ;  that  is  to  say,  a  town  en- 
circled by  a  row  of  posts  set  close  together  in 
the  ground,  against  which,  on  the  inner  side, 
heavy  sheets  of  bark  had  been  fastened.  As 
early  as  1615  the  tribe  of  the  Mascoutins  were 
inhabitants  of  the  country  west  and  southwest 
of  Lake  Huron,  now  southern  Michigan, 
where  they  had  some  thirty  towns.  But  from 
this  region  they  were  driven  in  1642  or  1643 
by  the  Neutral  Nation,  so  called,  their  im- 
mediate neighbors  on  the  east,  and  thereafter 
were  to  be  found  in  the  'Fox  river  region. 
"  Last  summer,"  says  the  Relation  des  Hiwons 


MASCOUTIN.  67 

of  1643,  in  allusion  to  the  expulsion  of  the 
Mascoutins  from  the  Lake  Huron  country, 
"  two  thousand  warriors  of  the  Neutral  Nation 
attacked  a  town  of  the  Nation  of  Fire,  well 
fortified  with  a  palisade,  and  defended  by 
nine  hundred  warriors.  They  took  it  after  a 
siege  of  ten  days  ;  killed  many  on  the  spot, 
and  made  eight  hundred  prisoners,  men, 
women,  and  children.  After  burning  seventy 
of  the  best  warriors,  they  put  out  the  eyes  of 
the  old  men,  and  cut  away  their  lips,  and  then 
left  them  to  drag  out  a  miserable  existence." 
The  village  of  the  Mascoutins  on  Fox  river 
(aboriginal  Muscatine)  was,  it  may  also  be 
remarked,  a  point  of  note  and  importance. 
Hither,  at  one  time,  came  Jean  Nicolet,  and 
here  he  learned  from  the  Mascoutins  of  the 
existence  of  the  "great  water,"  the  Mississippi. 
Hither  also,  in  1659,  came  the  travelers 
Radisson  and  Groseilliers ;  and  concerning 
the  Mascoutins  Radisson  wrote  in  his  journal: 
"  We  made  acquaintance  with  another  nation 
called  Escotecke  (Mascoutins),  wch  signified 
fire,  a  faire,  proper  nation  ;  they  weare  tall,  and 
big,  and  very  strong.  We  came  there  in  the 
spring.  When  we  arrived  there  were  extra- 
ordinary banquets.  There  they  never  had 
seen  men  wth  beards,  because  they  pull  their 
haires  as  soone  as  it  comes  out ;  but  much 


68  MASCOUTIN. 

more  astonished  when  they  saw  our  arms, 
especially  our  guns,  wch  they  worshipped 
by  blowing  smoke  of  tobacco  instead  of 
sacrifice." 

Further  on,  and  at  a  later  date,  Radisson 
gives  an  account  of  an  expedition  made  by 
himself  and  his  companion  to  and  down  a 
stream  which  it  seems  safe  to  infer  was  the 
Mississippi.  His  exact  words  are :  "  We 
weare  4  moneths  in  our  voyage  wthout  doe- 
ing  anything  but  goe  from  river  to  river. 

We  mett  several  sorts  of  people By 

the  persuasion  of  rome  of  them  we  went  into 

ye  great  river  that  divides  itself  in  2 

It  is  so  called  because  it  has  two  branches, 
the  one  towards  the  west,  the  other  towards 
the  south,  wch  we  believe  runns  towards 
Mexico,  by  the  tokens  they  gave  us."  The 
"  branch  "  spoken  of  by  Radisson  as  "towards 
the  west"  is  conjectured  by  the  editor  of 
Radisson's  journal,  as  published  in  the  Wis- 
consin Historical  Collection,  to  be  the  upper 
Iowa  river.  If  so,  Radisson  and  Groseilliers 
at  least  journeyed  well  down  towards  the  site 
of  the  present  town  of  Muscatine — and  this, 
moreover,  as  a  direct  result  of  information 
derived  from  the  Mascoutin  Indians. 

Now  it  will  be  observed — coming  to  one  of 
the  main  points  of  our  investigation — that  the 


MASCOUTIN.  69 

name  Mascoutin,  as  applied  to  the  Indian 
tribe  of  which  I  have  been  speaking,  is  de- 
fined by  the  Relation  des  Hurons  of  1643,  and 
by  Radisson's  journal  of  1656  as  fire  nation. 
To  this  it  may  be  added  that  the  map  of  La 
Salle's  colony,  finished  in  1684  by  Jean  Bap- 
tiste  Franquelin,  fixes  the  location  of  the 
Mascoutins  as  on  Fox  river,  and  at  the  same 
time  designates  them  as  Mascoutins,  Nation 
du  Feu.  But  Charlevoix  says  that  the  true 
name  of  the  Mascoutins  was  Mascoutenec, 
signifying  an  open  country.  He  explains  the 
name  Mascoutin  as  a  mispronunciation  of 
Mascoutenec  by  the  Pottawattomies,  which 
was  taken  up  and  perpetuated  by  the  French. 
But  that  there  was  a  word  Mascoutin,  or 
something  very  like  it,  which,  in  the  Potta- 
wattomie  tongue,  meant  fire,  Charlevoix  admits. 
So  here  arises  again  the  old  dispute.  On 
the  one  side,  contending  for  the  meaning  fire 
nation,  we  have  the  early  discoverers  Radis- 
son,  Allouez,  Marquette1  and  La  Salle,  to- 

*Jes.Rel.  1670-71.  Marquette:  "We  entered  into  the 
river  which  leads  to  the  Machkoutenech  (Mascoutins), 
called  Fire  Nation.  This  is  a  very  beautiful  river,  without 
rapids  or  portages ;  it  flows  to  the  southwest.  Along  this 
river  are  numerous  nations:  Oumami  (Miami),  Kikabou 
(Kickapoo) ,  Machkouteng  (Mascoutins) ,  &c.  These  people 
are  established  in  a  very  fine  place,  where  we  see  beautiful 
plains,  and  level  country  as  far  as  the  eye  reaches.  Their 
river  leads  into  a  great  river  called  Mississippi." 


70  MASCOUTIN. 

gether  with  Sagard  and  Champlain  ;  while  on 
the  other  we  are  confronted  by  Dablon,1 
Charlevoix,  Schoolcraft,  and  (doubtfully) 
Parkman.2  And  what,  by  a  sort  of  amusing 
perversity,  is  more  perplexing  still,  the  name 
Mascoutin,  as  applied  to  the  island  in  the 
Mississippi  below  the  present  town  of  Musca- 
tine,  is  equally  pertinent  and  apropos,  be  the 
meaning  thereof  fire  island  or  prairie  island  ; 
for,  besides  being  the  flattest  and  nakedest  of 
prairies,  in  Indian  times  this  island  was  wont 
to  be  swept  yearly  by  fierce  conflagrations. 

But  what  connection  is  there  (coming  now 
to  the  other  leading  point  of  our  investigation) 
between  the  Mascoutin  tribe  of  Indians  on 
Fox  river  in  what  is  now  the  state  of  Wiscon- 
sin, and  Mascoutin,  or  Muscatine,  island  in 
the  state  of  Iowa  ?  How  is  it  even  known 
that  Muscatine  island  originally  was  Mas- 
coutin island  ?  Answering  the  last  question 

'Dablon:  "It  is  beyond  this  great  river  that  are  placed 
the  Illinois,  of  whom  we  speak,  and  from  whom  are  de- 
tached those  who  dwell  here  with  the  Fire  Nation — Mas- 
coutins.  The  Fire  Nation  bears  this  name  erroneously  (?) 
calling  themselves  Machkoutenech,  which  signifies  'aland 
bare  of  trees'  (Muscutah — prairie) ,  such  as  that  which  this 
people  inhabit ;  but  because  by  the  change  of  a  few  letters 
(namely  scuta,  which  means  fire)  from  thence  it  has  come 
that  they  are  called  the  Fire  Nation." 

^Wisconsin  Historical  Collection,  vol.  iii.  pp.  131-132. 
Parkman's  Jes.  in  North  America,  p.  436,  note. 


MASCOUTIN.  71 

first,  let  me  quote  from  the  diary  of  Major 
Thomas  Forsyth  of  the  United  States  Army, 
kept  by  him  in  the  year  1819  while  on  a 
voyage  up  the  Mississippi  from  St.  Louis  to 
the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony  :  "  Sunday,  June  2oth. 
Weather  still  very  warm  ;  had  the  sail  up  and 
down  several  times.  Met  the  Black  Thunder 
and  some  followers,  all  Foxes,  going  down  to 
St.  Louis  in  their  canoes  ;  they  immediately 
returned  when  they  met  me.  Encamped  a 
little  above  the  Iowa  river  ;  eighteen  miles 
was  this  day's  progress.  Monday,  2ist.  We 
were  off  by  time  this  morning  ;  three  Saukies 
overtook  us  on  their  way  from  hunting,  bound 
up  to  their  village  on  Rocky  river  ;  current 
strong  to-day,  made  only  twenty-four  miles  ; 
encamped  at  upper  end  of  Grand  Mascoutin." 
On  the  day  following  he  reached  Fort  Arm- 
strong on  Rock  Island,  having  come,  he  tells 
us,  "  twenty-seven  miles  from  his  last  stop." 
Now  the  distance  from  the  mouth  of  the  Iowa 
river  to  the  head  of  Muscatine  Island  is,  by 
river,  at  least  twenty  miles — about  what  Major 
Forsyth  guessed  to  be  the  distance  from  his 
place  of  encampment  "  a  little  above  the  Iowa 
river"  to  "the upper  end  of  Grand  Mascoutin  "; 
and  the  distance  from  Muscatine  Island  to 
Rock  Island  is  by  river  twenty-eight  miles — 
just  one  mile  more  than  Major  Forsyth 


72  MASCOUTIN. 

guessed  it  to  be.  It  therefore  seems  plain 
that  Muscatine  Island  was  known  by  the  name 
Mascoutin  in  and  before  the  year  1819. 

In  answer  to  the  first  question — that  regard- 
ing the  connection  between  the  Mascoutin 
Indians  and  Mascoutin  Island — the  following 
may  be  said  :  The  Sac  and  Fox  (or  more  cor- 
rectly, the  Sauk  and  Musquakie)  Indians,  as 
is  well  known,  had  inhabited  what  is  now 
eastern  Iowa  and  western  Illinois,  near  the 
mouth  of  Rock  river,  for  seventy  or  one 
hundred  years  before  the  Black  Hawk  war  of 
1831-32.  It  also  is  known  that  early  in  the 
eighteenth  century  the  Sac  and  Fox  tribes 
were  denizens  of  the  Fox  river  region,  where 
were  also  at  that  time  the  Mascoutins.  From 
this  region  the  Sacs  and  Foxes  had  migrated 
to  the  Rock  river  region.  Is  it  probable  that 
the  Mascoutins,  or  some  of  the  Mascoutins, 
migrated  with  them  ?  It  seem  to  me  that  it 
is.  To  begin  with,  the  accomplished  Indian 
historian  John  Gilmary  Shea  makes  the  sug- 
gestion that  the  name  Musquakie,  by  which 
the  Fox  Indians  called  themselves,  means  red 
land,  and  may  be  a  corruption  of  Mash- 
kooteaki — fire  land.  If  so,  Shea  thinks  that 
the  Foxes  comprised  the  remnant,  and  bore 
the  name,  of  the  Mascoutins.  That  the  Foxes, 
or  Sacs  and  Foxes,  by  the  time  of  their  migra- 


MASCOUTIN.  73 

tion  to  the  Rock  river  region,  had  absorbed 
the  Mascoutins — not  then  a  numerous  people 
— is,  I  think,  highly  probable.  That  they 
comprised  them — were  in  fact  the  remnant  of 
them,  seems  to  me  highly  improbable.  The 
Foxes  were  a  distinct  tribe  and  had  borne  the 
name  of  Musquakie  long  prior  to  their  hegira 
southward.  But  they  readily  could  have 
absorbed  the  Mascoutins  :  for,  first,  they  were 
more  numerous ;  second,  they  spoke  the  same 
tongue1;  third,  they  always  had  had  the  Mas- 
coutins for  close  neighbors  and  allies2;  and 
fourth,  the  Mascoutins  dropped  entirely  out 
of  history  in  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth 
century.3  Assuming,  then,  that  some  of  the 
Mascoutin  tribe  accompanied  the  Sacs  and 
Foxes  to  the  mouth  of  the  Rock  river,  they 
would  have  been  within  twenty-eight  miles 
of  the  island  called  Grand  Mascoutin  in  1819 
by  Major  Forsyth,  and  today  called  Musca- 
tine  by  everybody.  That  this  island,  so  near 

'Parkman's  Jes.  in  North  Am.  p.  436,  note. 

2  Memoir  concerning  the  peace  made   by  Monsieur  de 
Lignery  with  the   chiefs  of  the  Foxes,  etc.,  June  7,  1726. 
Wis.  Hist.  Col.,  vol.  iii.  p.  149. 

3  Parkman's  Jes.  in  North  Am.  p.  436,  note.     Shea  says 
that  the  Mascoutins  disappeared  from  the  Fox  river  region 
about  1720.     Wis.  Hist.  Col.,  vol.  iii.  p.  131;  see  also  Wis. 
Col.,  vol.  iii.  p.  106.     Parkman  says  in  his  La  Salle,  p.  36, 
"  The  Mascoutins,  Fire  Nation,  or  Nation  of  the  Prairie, 
are  extinct  or  merged  in  other  tribes." 


74  MASCOUTIN. 

to  the  new  abiding  place  of  the  Mascoutins, 
should  in  some  way,  by  more  or  less  perma- 
nent occupation  perhaps,  have  derived  its 
name  from  them  is  a  reasonable  supposition. 
But  whether  Mascoutin  mean  fire  nation  or 
prairie  nation,  it  is  now  impossible  absolutely 
to  determine.  A  feather's  weight  is  thrown 
into  the  balances  in  favor  of  the  meaning  fire 
nation  or  fire  land  by  Shea's  statement  that 
Mashkooteaki  means  fire  land  ;  for  it  will  be 
remembered  that  Radisson  in  his  journal  gives 
the  name  Mascoutin  as  Escotecke — a  not  un- 
successful phonetic  reproduction  of  Mash- 
kooteaki.1 

The  spot  on  Iowa  -soil  now  occupied  by 
Muscatine  is  not,  it  may  fittingly  be  remarked 
in  conclusion,  without  other  historic  associa- 
tions than  such  as  arise  from  the  probable 
connection  with  it  of  some  remnant  of  the 
Mascoutin  tribe. 

'The  following  is  suggested  as  the  possible  derivation  of 
the  word  Mascoutin:  (i)  Escotecke  (Radisson)  or  Mash- 
kooteaki (Shea)  or  Mashkootenki  (Allouez  and  Marquette, 
by  prefixing  M,  and  affixing  enk,  to  the  word  skoote  or  ash- 
koote;  this  word  meaning,  by  definition  of  all,  fire  land  or 
fire  nation) ;  (2)  Mashcouteng  {Jcs.  Rel.  1669-70) ;  (3) 
Machkoutens  {Jes.  Rel.  1670-1);  (4)  Maskoutens  or  Mas- 
coutins (Charlevoix).  The  meaning  "  prairie  nation,"  to 
which  later  writers  have  inclined,  is  obtained,  according  to 
Shea,  by  deriving  the  word  Mascoutin  from  Muskortenec  or 
Muscutah — ' '  prairie. ' ' 


MASCOUTIN.  75 

Here  was  the  favorite  hunting-ground  of 
the  great  Sac  chief  Makataimishekiakiak,  or 
Black  (sparrow)  Hawk.  Here,  doubtless,  on 
many  occasions  has  he  stood  upon  the  com- 
manding heights  overlooking  Mascoutin 
island  and  the  Mississippi  river,  and  gazed 
with  awe  upon  the  magnificent  and  extended 
prospect ;  for  Black  Hawk  was  an  admirer  of 
bold  scenery,  as  he  has  been  careful  to  tell  us 
in  his  Autobiography  when  describing  the 
position  of  and  view  from  Black  Hawk's 
Watch  Tower  on  Rock  river.  Here  also  the 
eloquent  and  wily  Sac  chief  Keokuk  used 
to  hunt  and  dwell ;  the  name  Keokuk  lake 
still  serving  to  designate  an  extension 
at  one  point  of  the  waters  of  Muscatine 
slough.  At  Muscatine  island  Lieutenant 
Zebulon  M.  Pike,  from  whom  was  afterwards 
named  Pike's  Peak,  Colorado,  stopped  on 
his  voyage  of  exploration  up  the  "  great 
water"1  in  1805.  Up  past  Muscatine  island 
sailed  the  expedition  sent  out  in  1814  by 
Governor  William  Clark  of  Missouri  to  seize 
and  fortify  Prairie  du  Chien.  Down  past  this 
island,  likewise  in  1814,  swept  the  disabled 
boats  of  Lieutenants  Rector  and  Riggs,  after 
the  bloody  repulse  at  Rock  island  (by  the 
Indians  under  Black  Hawk)  of  Captain  John 

'Missi,  Algonquin  for  great;    sepe,  Algonquin  for  water. 


76  MASCOUTIN. 

Campbell's  expedition  for  the  relief  of  the 
post  at  Prairie  du  Chien — then  beleagured  by 
the  British.  Down  past  this  island  the  next 
year  came  in  retreat,  but  not  in  disorder,  the 
large  boats  in  which  Major  Zachary  Taylor 
had  in  vain,  after  some  fierce  cannonading, 
attempted  to  dislodge  the  British  and  Indians 
from  their  Rock  Island  stronghold.  And 
finally,  in  1816,  up  past  Muscatine  island  and 
the  future  site  of  Muscatine,  sailed  General 
Thomas  A.  Smith  of  the  American  army,  on 
his  way  to  establish  the  military  and  trading 
post  Fort  Armstrong  on  the  lower  end  of 
Rock  Island,  and  the  similar  post,  Fort  Snell- 
ing,  near  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony.  No  scene 
of  blood,  so  far  as  known,  ever  has  been 
enacted  on  the  immediate  spot  where  Mus- 
catine stands.  The  most  thrilling  picture 
possible  for  the  imagination  to  paint,  in 
intimate  connection  with  it,  is  that  of  a 
billowy  mass  of  flames  sweeping  for  miles  the 
surface  of  a  low,  level  island  and  bringing 
into  sharp  relief  against  the  sky  the  form  of 
some  Indian  watcher  upon  the  lonely  hills. 


BLACK   HAWK   AND   KEOKUK 


BLACK  HAWK,  KEOKUK,  AND  THEIR 
VILLAGE. 

THE  western  boundary  of  the  state  of  Illinois 
is  formed  by  the  Mississippi  river.  The 
course  of  this  river  past  the  city  of  Rock 
Island,  and  for  many  miles  above,  is  southwest. 
Just  below  the  city  Rock  river  enters  the  Mis- 
sissippi. The  course  of  Rock  river  is  also 
southwest,  but  at  such  an  angle  as  to  bring  it 
into  conjunction  with  the  larger  stream  at  the 
point  named.  In  the  Mississippi,  three  and 
one-half  miles  northeast  from  the  mouth  of 
Rock  river,  is  the  island  of  Rock  Island — at 
present  the  site  of  the  extensive  United  States 
government  works  known  as  the  Rock  Island 
Arsenal.  On  the  north  bank  of  Rock  river, 
a  mile  east  from  its  mouth,  was  located  for 
many  years  (perhaps  a  hundred)  preceding 
its  destruction  in  1831  by  the  Illinois  militia, 
the  large  Indian  town  of  Saukenuk.  The 
date  of  the  founding  of  this  town  is  undeter- 
mined. Black  Hawk,  the  Sauk  chief,  in  his 
autobiography,  puts  it  as  far  back  as  1731. 
Others  put  it  as  late  as  1783 — the  ap- 
proximate date  of  the  abandonment  by  the 
79 


8o  BLACK    HAWK    AND    KEOKUK. 

Sauks  of  their  village  on  the  Wisconsin  river, 
which  Augustin  Grignon  found  deserted  in 
1795,  but  which  Jonathan  Carver,  the  English 
traveler,  had  found  inhabited  in  1766. 

The  founders  of  the  town — the  Sauk  In- 
dians— were  an  Algonquin  tribe,  inhabitants 
originally,  along  with  other  tribes,  of  the  re- 
gion about  Montreal,  Canada;  extremely 
warlike  in  disposition,  and  possessing  a  his- 
tory abounding  in  incidents  both  romantic 
and  terrible.  As  early  as  1720,  according  to 
Charlevoix,  the  pioneer  historian  of  New 
France,  they  occupied  the  territory  bordering 
upon  Green  Bay  in  what  is  now  the  State  of 
Wisconsin ;  their  village  being  on  the  Fox 
river  thirty-seven  miles  above  the  bay,  at  the 
place  afterwards  called  the  little  Butte  des 
Marts.  Here,  it  was  one  of  their  practices  to 
demand  tribute  from  the  Indian  traders  as 
the  latter  passed  up  the  Fox  river  on  their 
way  to  the  Wisconsin  portage ;  pillaging,  mal- 
treating, and  even  killing  any  who  should 
make  bold  to  deny  them.  Enraged  at  this,  a 
daring  French  trader  and  captain,  LaPerriere 
Marin  by  name,  resolved  to  put  a  stop  to  it. 
Waiting  till  the  ice  was  sufficiently  out  of  Fox 
river,  in  the  spring  of  1730,  to  permit  the  pas- 
sage of  boats,  Capt.  Marin  ascended  the  stream 
with  eight  or  ten  Mackinaw  craft  filled  with 


BLACK    HAWK    AND   KEOKUK.  8l 

soldiers  and  Menomonee  Indian  allies.  When 
within  a  mile  of  the  Sauk  village,  he  landed 
his  boats,  disembarked  the  Menomonees  and 
half  of  his  soldiers,  and  ordered  them  to  gain 
the  rear  of  the  Sauks.  The  remainder  of  the 
party  disposed  themselves  in  the  bottom  of  a 
few  of  the  boats,  beneath  the  canvas  covers 
with  which  it  was  customary  to  protect  the 
lading  from  the  weather,  and  the  expedition 
proceeded.  As  the  boats  came  opposite  the 
village,  only  Marin  and  the  usual  number  of 
voyageurs  were  in  sight.  The  shore  was 
crowded  with  the  dusky  forms  of  the  Indian 
warriors,  women  and  children,  who  had  gath- 
ered to  receive  the  anticipated  gift  of  goods 
and  whiskey.  Nothing  could  have  been  less 
sinister  than  the  aspect  of  the  boats.  On 
they  came,  the  clear  tones  of  the  voyageurs 
rising  in  the  familiar  boat  song  : 
"  Tous  les  printemps, 

Tant  de  nouvelles, 

Tous  les  amants 

Changent  de  mattresses. 

Le  bon  vin  m'  endort ; 

L'  amour  me  reveille"1 

1 "  Each  returning  springtime 
Brings  so  much  that's  new, 
All  the  fickle  lovers 
Changing  sweethearts,  too. 
The  good  wine  soothes  and  gives  me  rest, 
y/hile  love  inspires  and  fills  my  breast." 


82  BLACK    HAWK   AND    KEOKUK. 

"Skootay  wawbo  !  Skootay  wawbo  !"  [fire  wa- 
ter] yelled  the  Indians.  "  Fire  !"  cried  Marin  ; 
and  immediately  the  canvas  coverings  were 
thrown  aside  and  the  Indians  smitten  by  a  vol- 
ley from  more  than  a  hundred  rifles.  Hear- 
ing the  attack  in  front,  the  party  which  had 
been  sent  to  cut  off  flight  to  the  rear  also  at- 
tacked, and  in  a  very  short  time  the  entire 
population  of  the  village  was  destroyed,  and 
the  village  itself  reduced  to  ashes.1  The 
mound  afterwards  raised  above  those  who 
perished  in  the  fight  became  known  by  the 
Anglo-French  designation  of  the  little  Butte 
des  Marts. 

Prostrated  by  this  and  other  disasters  in- 
flicted on  their  nation  by  the  French,2  the 

'  For  the  details  of  the  above  account  of  Marin's  expedi- 
tion the  writer  is  indebted  to  a  chapter  from  the  ' '  Tales  of 
the  Northwest,"  by  William  J.  Snelling,  Boston,  1830. 

2  The  French  war  with  the  Sauk  and  Fox  tribes  was  one 
of  long  duration.  As  early  as  1716,  the  Sieur  de  Louvigny 
moved  against  them  in  their  stronghold  near  Green  Bay 
(Wis.)  and  forced  them  to  sue  for  peace.  In  1728,  trouble 
again  arose,  and  the  Sieur  de  Lignery  headed  an  expedi- 
tion to  Green  Bay  and  up  Fox  river,  which  was  rendered 
fruitless  by  the  retreat  of  the  Indians  into  the  distant 
country  of  the  lowas.  In  the  fall  of  1729,  a  party  of 
Ottawas,  Chippeways,  Menomonees,  and  Winnebagos 
(allies  of  the  French)  surprised  the  Foxes  returning  from  a 
buffalo  hunt,  and  killed  eighty  men  and  three  hundred 
women  and  children.  Next  came  Marin's  expedition  in 
March,  1730.  In  September,  1730,  the  Sieur  |de  Yilliers 


BLACK    HAWK    AND    KEOKUK.  83 

Sauks — what  there  were  left  of  them — sought 
out  a  new  place  of  abode.  They  established 
a  village  on  the  present  site  of  the  twin  vil- 
lages, Prairie  du  Sac  and  Sauk  City,  on  the 
Wisconsin  river ;  their  allies,  the  Foxes,  who 
had  suffered  expulsion  from  the  Green  Bay 
country  along  with  them,  establishing  them- 
selves at  Prairie  du  Chien.  Writing  concern- 
ing the  Fox  village  at  the  Prairie,  as  it  ap- 
peared in  1766,  Jonathan  Carver  says  : 

"  It  is  a  large  town  and  contains  about  three 
hundred  families.  The  houses  are  well  built, 
after  the  Indian  manner,  and  pleasantly  situated 
on  a  very  rich  soil  from  which  they  [the  inhabit- 
ants] raise  every  necessary  of  life  in  great  abun- 
dance. This  town  is  the  great  mart,  where  all 
the  adjacent  tribes,  and  even  those  who  inhabit 
the  most  remote  branches  of  the  Mississippi,  an- 
nually assemble,  about  the  latter  end  of  May, 
bringing  with  them  their  furs  to  dispose  of  to  the 
traders." 

The  town  of  Saukenuk  was  a  much  larger 
and  much  more  important  centre  of  Indian 
population  than  was  Prairie  du  Chien.  Its 

defeated  the  Sauks  and  Foxes,  killing  two  hundred  warriors 
and  six  hundred  women  and  children.  1746  is  the  date 
assigned  by  tradition  for  the  final  expulsion  of  the  Sauks 
and  Foxes  from  Wisconsin.  But  Carver  distinctly  bears 
testimony  that  both  the  Sauk  and  Fox  tribes  were  inhabit- 
ing the  country  near  the  mouth  of  the  Wisconsin  river  as 
late  as  1766. 


84  BLACK    HAWK    AND    KEOKUK. 

site  was  one  of  the  most  beautiful  in  the  Mis- 
sissippi valley.  Northwest  of  it  was  the  Mis- 
sissippi, dotted  with  islands,  foremost  among 
which  was  Rock  Island,  abounding  in  fruits 
and  birds,  and  presided  over  by  a  local  divin- 
ity dwelling  in  a  great  cave  at  its  northwest 
extremity.  Immediately  south  and  at  one 
side  of  the  town  ran  Rock  river,  a  less  impos- 
ing stream  than  the  Father  of  Waters,  but  of 
silvery  clearness,  and  broken  by  rippling  shal- 
lows and  gentle  falls — a  stream  making  always 
a  pleasant  noise  in  the  ears  of  the  dusky  wan- 
derers along  its  banks. 

The  general  configuration  of  the  town  of 
Saukenuk  was  that  of  a  right-angled  triangle 
of  unequal  sides  ;  the  shorter  side  lying  paral- 
lel with  Rock  river  and  extending  down  the 
river  from  the  vertex  of  the  right  angle ;  the 
longer  side  extending  north  towards  the 
Mississippi.  It  was  defended  by  a  brush  pali- 
sade with  gates  for  entrance.  The  lodges  of 
the  Indians  were  rectangular  houses,  from 
thirty  to  one  hundred  feet  in  length  and  from 
sixteen  to  forty  feet  in  width.  They  were 
made  by  placing  a  covering  or  sheeting  of 
elm  bark  over  a  framework  of  poles,  the  bark 
being  fastened  to  the  poles  by  buckskin 
thongs.  A  doorway,  three  feet  in  width  by 
six  in  height,  was  left  in  the  two  ends  of  each 


BLACK    HAWK   AND    KEOKUK.  85 

lodge  before  which  was  usually  suspended  a 
skin  of  the  buffalo.  The  interior  was  broken 
into  compartments  on  either  side  of  a  hallway 
extending  from  end  to  end  of  the  structure. 
At  intervals,  down  the  middle  of  this  hallway, 
were  fire  pits,  provision  being  made  for  the 
escape  of  the  smoke  from  the  fires  by  open- 
ings left  in  the  roof  directly  over  the  pits. 
The  compartments  were  used  as  sleeping 
rooms,  the  couch  consisting  of  skins  thrown 
over  an  elevated  framework  of  elastic  poles.1 
In  nearly  every  detail  of  construction,  these 
lodges  of  the  Sauks  at  Saukenuk  seem  to  have 
closely  resembled  those  of  the  Hurons  in 
Canada,  which  were  swept  out  of  existence  over 
two  hundred  years  ago,  and  our  knowledge  of 
which  is  only  derived  from  the  worm-eaten 
pages  of  the  Jesuit  Relations.2 

Aside  from  warring  with  the  Sioux,  the 
chief  occupation  of  the  Sauks  was  agriculture. 
They  cultivated  some  eight  hundred  acres  of 

1  This  description  of  Saukenuk  is  from  the  orally  im- 
parted recollections  of  Bailey  Davenport,  Esq.,  a  son  of 
Col.  George  Davenport.  Mr.  Bailey  Davenport  spent 
much  of  his  childhood  among  the  Indians  at  their  village 
on  Rock  river.  Col.  George  Davenport  himself  was  an  In- 
dian trader  residing  on  Rock  Island.  The  son  was  born  in 
September,  1823,  and  died  in  January,  1891. 

2Parkman  in  "  The  "Jesuits  in  North  America"  (Intro- 
duction, pp.  xxvi  and  xxvii),  describes  particularly  the 
lodges  of  the  Hurons. 


86  BLACK    HAWK    AND    KEOKUK. 

the  land  adjacent  to  their  village,  raising 
good  crops  of  corn,  beans,  and  pump- 
kins. For  an  Indian  town,  the  population 
of  Saukenuk  was  very  large.  Governor  Ford, 
in  his  history  of  Illinois,  estimates  it  at 
six  or  seven  thousand  persons.  Other  esti- 
mates put  it  at  not  less  than  ten  thousand  per- 
sons. Major  Thomas  Forsyth,  of  the  United 
States  army,  wrote  to  Governor  Clark,  of 
Missouri,  in  1817  :  "Indeed  I  have  seen  many 
Indian  villages,  but  I  never  saw  such  a  large 
one  or  such  a  populous  one.  They  (the 
Sauks)  appear  stationary  there,  and  their  old 
lodges  are  repaired,  and  some  new  ones  built 
and  others  building."  Here,  in  this  savage 
London  or  Paris,  was  the  centre  of  the  Sauk 
national  life,  of  its  gaieties  and  of  its  serious 
deliberations. 

On  the  level  ground  west  of  the  town  fre- 
quently might  have  been  seen,  in  the  early 
summer  time  and  autumn,  hundreds  of  brawny 
Indians  engaged  in  their  favorite  sports  of 
horse  racing  and  ball  playing.  In  either  case 
the  play  was  for  stakes,  and  these  always  high 
— two  or  three  horses,  a  fine  rifle  or  war  club. 
Their  game  of  ball,  which  Black  Hawk  men- 
tions as  very  popular,  was  played  in  this  wise  : 
A  tall  post  was  erected  at  either  extremity  of 
the  play  ground,  and  the  players  divided  into 


BLACK    HAWK    AND    KEOKUK.  87 

rival  parties.  The  object  of  each  was  to  de- 
fend its  own  post  and  drive  the  ball  to  that 
of  its  adversary.  "  Hundreds  of  lithe  and 
agile  figures,"  says  Park  man,  describing  this 
game  as  played  by  the  Sauks  and  Ojibways 
near  Michillimackinac  in  June,  1763,  "are 
leaping  and  bounding  upon  the  plain  ;  each 
is  nearly  naked,  his  loose  black  hair  flying  in 
the  wind  ;  and  each  bears  in  his  hand  a  bat 
of  a  form  peculiar  to  this  game.  At  one 
moment  the  whole  are  crowded  together,  a 
dense  throng  of  combatants,  all  struggling 
for  the  ball ;  at  the  next  they  are  scattered 
again,  and  running  over  the  ground  like 
hounds  in  full  cry;  each  in  his  excitement 
yells  and  shouts  at  the  height  of  his  voice. 
Rushing  and  striking,  tripping  their  adversa- 
ries or  hurling  them  to  the  ground,  they  pur- 
sue the  animating  contest."  Or,  if  our  at- 
tention be  directed  to  the  town  itself  on  the 
proper  occasion,  we  may  behold  the  great 
national  dance  of  the  Sauks.  The  large  open 
square  with  which  the  town  is  provided  is 
swept  clean.  The  chiefs  and  old  warriors  take 
seats  on  mats  which  have  been  spread  on  the 
upper  end  of  the  square.  Next  come  the 
drummers  and  singers;  the  braves  and  wo- 
men gather  on  the  sides.  The  drums  beat 
and  the  singing  commences.  A  warrior  en- 


88  BLACK    HAWK    AND   KEOKUK. 

ters  the  square,  keeping  time  to  the  music. 
He  describes  the  way  in  which  a  war  party 
was  formed,  the  enemy  approached,  the  toma- 
hawk buried  in  the  brain  of  a- victim,  or  his 
scalp  torn  from  his  head.  The  women  loudly 
applaud,  while  the  young  men  who  have  never 
killed  any  enemy  stand  back  ashamed.  An- 
other warrior  then  steps  forward  and  recounts 
his  exploits,  until  all  have  done  so,  and  a  veri- 
table frenzy  of  excitement  seizes  upon  the 
assembly. 

At  a  distance  of  half  a  mile  east  of  the  site 
of  the  Indian  town  rises  the  bold  promontory 
known  as  Black  Hawk's  Watch-Tower.  Rock 
river  flows  at  its  base, — two  hundred  sheer 
feet  from  the  apex  in  which  the  promontory 
culminates.  Of  this  place  Black  Hawk  him- 
self says  in  his  autobiography :  "  This  tower, 
to  which  my  name  has  been  applied,  was  a 
favorite  resort,  and  was  frequently  visited  by 
me  alone,  where  I  could  sit  and  smoke  my 
pipe  and  look  with  wonder  and  pleasure  at 
the  grand  scenes  that  were  presented  by  the 
sun's  rays  even  across  the  mighty  water  [the 
Mississippi].  On  one  occasion  a  Frenchman, 
who  had  been  making  his  home  in  our  village, 
brought  his  violin  with  him  to  the  tower  to 
play  and  dance  for  the  amusement  of  our 
people  who  had  assembled  there,  and  while 


BLACK    HAWK    AND    KEOKUK.  89 

dancing  with  his  back  to  the  cliff,  accident- 
ally fell  over  and  was  killed  by  the  fall.  The 
Indians  say  that  always,  at  the  same  time  of 
the  year,  soft  strains  of  the  violin  can  be  heard 
near  the  spot." 

The  two  most  remarkable  individuals  (and 
they  were  truly  remarkable)  at  any  time  born 
in  Saukenuk  were  Black  Hawk  and  Keokuk, 
both  war  chiefs  of  the  Sauks.  The  date  of 
the  birth  of  Black  Hawk  or,  as  the  name  is  in 
the  Sauk  tongue,  Makataimeshekiakiak,  is 
given  in  the  autobiography  as  1767.  If  this 
date  be  accepted,  the  conclusion  is  inevitable 
that  the  Sauks  must  have  removed  from  the 
Wisconsin  to  the  Rock  river  region  immedi- 
ately after  the  visit  to  them  of  Carver  in  1766. 
But  there  are  those  who,  governed  by  state- 
ments made  by  Black  Hawk  some  years  after 
the  publication  of  his  autobiography,  fix  the 
date  of  his  birth  as  1775.  This  later  date 
approximates  that  already  named  (1783)  as 
the  possible  time  at  which  Saukenuk  was 
founded. 

In  respect  to  personal  character,  Black 
Hawk  was  a  man  of  marked  strength  and  no- 
bility. A  savage  by  birth,  he  yet  was  singu- 
larly without  the  instincts  of  the  savage.  Al- 
though polygamy  was  practiced  by  his  people, 
he  never  had  but  one  wife.  He  realized  the 


90  BLACK    HAWK    AND    KEOKUK. 

peculiarly  demoralizing  effect  of  intoxicants 
upon  the  Indian,  and  rarely,  if  ever,  could  be 
induced  to  depart  from  his  rule  of  abstinence. 
He  respected  the  helpless  women  and  chil- 
dren of  an  enemy,  and  showed  clemency  even 
to  male  captives.  A  striking  instance  of  his 
clemency  to  such  a  captive,  is  related  by  the 
scout,  Elijah  Kilbourn.  In  the  war  of  1812, 
Kilbourn  was  attached  to  the  American  army. 
Black  Hawk  and  a  band  of  Sauk  warriors  were 
serving  in  the  ranks  of  the  British.  After  the 
repulse  of  the  British  and  Indians  at  Fort 
Stephenson  in  August,  1813,  Black  Hawk  be- 
came disgusted  with  the  ill  fortune  just  then 
attending  the  British  arms  and  took  summary 
leave  for  Rock  river.  Kilbourn  with  a  party 
was  sent  by  the  Americans  to  follow  him. 
The  pursuit  was  continued  until  the  party,  be- 
coming confused  by  many  trails,  and  being  in 
the  midst  of  Indian  settlements,  was  forced  to 
break  up,  each  man  looking  out  for  his  own 
safety.  Suddenly,  one  day,  on  emerging  from 
a  thicket,  Kilbourn  saw  at  a  distance  an  In- 
dian on  his  hands  and  knees  slaking  his  thirst 
at  a  spring.  Instinctively  the  scout  leveled 
his  rifle  and  pulled  the  trigger.  The  flint  was 
shivered  against  the  pan,  but  the  priming 
failed  to  ignite.  By  this  time  the  Indian  had 
recovered  himself  and  was  leveling  his  rifle  at 


BLACK    HAWK    AND    KEOKUK.  9! 

the  scout.  He  did  not  fire,  however,  but  ad- 
vanced upon  Kilbourn  and  made  him  prisoner. 
Being  ordered  to  march  ahead  of  his  captor, 
Kilbourn  soon  found  himself  in  an  Indian 
camp.  Here,  gaining  a  closer  look,  he 
recognized  his  captor  as  none  other  than 
Black  Hawk  himself.  "The  white  mole  digs 
deep,  but  Makataimeshekiakiak  flies  high  and 
can  see  far  off,"  said  Black  Hawk  to  the  scout. 
After  some  words  to  his  band,  Black  Hawk 
informed  Kilbourn  that  he  had  decided  to 
adopt  him  into  the  Sauk  tribe.  Accordingly, 
he  was  taken  to  Saukenuk,  dressed  and  painted 
and  formally  received  into  the  Sauk  fellow- 
ship. Constantly  watchful  for  a  chance  to 
escape,  at  length,  after  three  years,  he  found 
it  and  regained  civilization.  But  this  was  not 
all — nor,  had  it  been  all,  would  it  perhaps  have 
been  so  very  remarkable ;  for  an  Indian  not  in- 
frequently has  been  known  to  spare  a  captive, 
through  caprice,  and  adopt  him  as  a  brother. 
What  followed  Kilbourn's  escape,  however,  is 
remarkable.  During  the  Black  Hawk  war  of 
1832,  he  was  again  a  scout  in  the  service  of 
the  government,  and  was  captured  by  Black 
Hawk  at  the  battle  (so  called)  of  Stillman's 
Run.  He  nerved  himself  for  the  torture  which 
he  felt  certain  must  now  await  him.  Nor  was 
he  reassured  in  the  least  when  Black  Hawk, 


Q2       BLACK  HAWK  AND  KEOKUK. 

passing  close  to  him,  said  in  a  low  tone', 
"Does  the  mole  think  that  Black  Hawk  for- 
gets?" But,  just  before  sunset  of  the  day  of 
his  capture,  Black  Hawk  again  came  to  him, 
loosed  the  cords  that  bound  him  to  a  tree 
and  conducted  him  far  into  the  forest.  Paus- 
ing, the  Indian  said,  "I  am  going  to  send  you 
back  to  your  chief,  though  I  ought  to  kill 
you  for  running  away  a  long  time  ago,  after  I 
had  adopted  you  as  a  son ;  but  Black  Hawk 
can  forgive  as  well  as  fight."1 

The  cause  of  Black  Hawk's  friendship  for 
the  British,  as  against  the  Americans,  is  plain  ; 
the  British  were  careful  to  keep  their  engage- 
ments with  the  Indians,  while  the  Americans 
were  not.  The  British  Indian  department 
was  filled  by  men  of  long  experience  in  In- 
dian affairs,  and  proved  a  most  potent  instru- 
mentality for  enlisting  the  Indians  on  the  side 
of  the  British  whenever  occasion  required. 
In  contrast  to  this,  the  American  Indian  de- 
partment was  largely  in  the  hands  of  men 
who  had  never  seen  an  Indian  until  they  met 
him  in  the  difficult  and  delicate  relations  of  In- 
dian agent.  When,  therefore,  on  the  breaking 
out  of  the  war  of  1812,  Col.  Robert  Dickson, 

1  Kilbourn's  narrative  may  be  found,  reprinted  from  "  The 
Soldier's  Cabinet,"  in  Patterson's  second  edition  of  Black 
Hawk's  Autobiography.  The  main  points  are  also  given 
by  Black  Hawk  himself.  Autobiog.  2d  ed.  pp,  37,  98. 


BLACK    HAWK    AND    KEOKUK.  93 

of  the  British  Indian  department  sent  word 
to  the  Sauks  at  Rock  river  to  meet  him  at 
Green  Bay,  preparatory  to  moving  against  the 
Americans,  they  complied  with  alacrity.  Black 
Hawk  personally  participated  in  the  fight  at 
the  River  Raisen,  near  Maiden,  on  January 
22d,  1813,  where  he  interposed  to  keep  his 
warriors  from  joining  in  the  massacre  of 
American  prisoners  which  was  going  on. 
Later,  on  May  5th,  he  was  at  the  siege  of  Fort 
Meigs;  and  finally,  on  August  2d,  took  a 
hand  in  the  attack  on  Fort  Stephenson.  Many 
years  ago,  a  writer  in  the  Baltimore  American, 
to  whose  credibility  the  editor  of  the  paper 
bore  testimony,  stated  that  Black  Hawk  had 
told  him  that  he  also  had  fought  in  the  battle 
of  the  Thames.  "During  a  residence  of  sev- 
eral years  in  what  is  now  the  territory  of  Iowa," 
says  the  writer,  "  I  had  many  opportunities  of 
seeing  and  conversing  with  Black  Hawk.  .  .  . 
In  the  course  of  our  talk,  I  asked  him  if  he 
was  with  Tecumseh  when  he  was  killed.  'I 
was,'  said  Black  Hawk,  'and  I  will  now  tell 
you  all  about  it.'"  Then  follows  a  circum- 
stantial narrative  of  the  battle,  ending  in  these 
words : 

"At  the  first  discharge  of  their  [the  Americans'] 
guns,  I  saw  Tecumseh  stagger  forwards  over  a 
fallen  tree  near  which  he  was  standing,  letting  his 


94  BLACK    HAWK    AND    KEOKUK. 

rifle  drop  at  his  feet.  As  soon  as  the  Indians  dis- 
covered he  was  killed,  a  panic  came  over  them, 
and,  fearing  that  the  Great  Spirit  was  displeased, 
they  fought  no  longer." 

Besides  the  foregoing,  W.  Henry  Starr, 
Esq.,  of  Burlington,  Iowa  Territory,  wrote  as 
follows,  on  March  2ist,  1839: 

"In  the  autumn  of  1838,  Black  Hawk  was  at 
the  house  of  an  Indian  trader  in  the  vicinity  of 
Burlington,  when  I  became  acquainted,  and  fre- 
quently conversed  with  him  in  broken  English, 
and  through  the  medium  of  gestures  and  pan- 
tomime. .  .  .  On  one  occasion,  I  mentioned  Te- 
cumseh  to  him,  and  he  expressed  the  greatest  joy 
that  I  had  heard  of  him  ;  and,  pointing  away  to 
the  east  and  making  a  feint  as  if  aiming  a  gun, 
said:  'Chemokaman  [white  man]  nesso  [kill]'; 
from  which  I  have  no  doubt  of  his  being  person- 
ally acquainted  with  Tecumseh  ;  and  I  have  been 
since  informed,  on  good  authority,  that  he  was  in 
the  battle  of  the  Thames  and  in  several  other  en- 
gagements with  that  distinguished  chief." 

These  would  seem  to  be  strong  evidences 
that  Black  Hawk  did  not  sever  his  connection 
with  the  British  army  until  October,  1813, 
when  the  battle  of  the  Thames  was  fought. 
Nevertheless,  in  the  autobiography,  it  is  ex- 
plicitly stated  by  Black  Hawk  that  he  and 
twenty  of  his  warriors  quietly  left  the  British 
camp  immediately  after  the  repulse  at  Fort 


BLACK    HAWK    AND    KEOKUK.  95 

Stephenson.  If  this  were  not  the  fact,  it  is 
hard  to  understand  why  it  is  stated  so  to  be 
in  the  autobiography,  which  in  essentials  is  a 
trustworthy  recital. 

The  occurrence  which  caused  the  name  of 
Black  Hawk  to  become  universally  known  in 
America,  was  the  Black  Hawk  War  of  1832.' 
This  wretched  contest  was  the  outgrowth  of 
misunderstanding  and  of  the  encroachment 
of  white  settlers  upon  the  public  domain.  In 
1804,  at  St.  Louis,  William  Henry  Harrison 
negotiated  with  several  chiefs  of  the  Sauk  and 
Fox  tribes  a  treaty,  whereby  were  ceded  to 
the  United  States  many  thousand  acres  of 
lands  in  Wisconsin  and  Illinois,  including  the 
site  of  Saukenuk.  The  validity  of  this  treaty 
was  never  recognized  by  Black  Hawk.  He 
contended  that  the  chiefs  who  signed  it  had 
no  authority  to  do  so,  and,  moreover,  that 
they  were  induced  to  affix  their  names  by 
grossly  unfair  means.  However  this  may 
have  been,  the  Indians  by  the  terms  of  the 

'The  Black  Hawk  War  is  more  justly  famous  for  the 
many  men  participating  in  it  who  afterwards  gained  dis- 
tinction in  both  the  military  and  civil  walks  than  for  any- 
thing else.  Among  them  were  Abraham  Lincoln ,  Jefferson 
Davis,  Zachary  Taylor,  Albert  Sidney  Johnston,  Robert 
Anderson,  of  Fort  Sumter  celebrity,  Phil  Kearney  and  W. 
S.  Harney,  besides  three  governors  of  Illinois,  —  Ford, 
Duncan  and  Reynolds. 


96       BLACK  HAWK  AND  KEOKUK. 

treaty  were  permitted  to  occupy  the  ceded 
lands  until  such  time  as  they  should  be  sold 
to  settlers ;  and  when,  before  they  were  thus 
sold,  settlers  began  to  locate  in  the  vicinity  of 
Saukenuk,  difficulties  between  the  Indians 
and  these  settlers  naturally  arose.  Finally,  in 
1831,  the  exasperation  on  both  sides  became 
intense,  and  an  appeal  was  made  by  the  set- 
tlers to  Governor  Reynolds,  of  Illinois,  and 
to  General  Gaines,  of  the  United  States  army, 
at  Jefferson  Barracks,  Mo.,  forthwith  to  re- 
move the  Indians  from  the  State.  Governor 
Reynolds  thereupon  called  out  the  militia,  and 
General  Gaines  started  for  Fort  Armstrong, 
Rock  Island,  arriving  there  on  June  3d  with 
six  companies  of  regulars.  Black  Hawk  was 
summoned  to  a  conference  by  General  Gaines, 
which  he  and  his  braves  attended,  decked  out 
in  their  war  paint  and  bearing  their  war  clubs. 
To  the  general's  order  to  move  across  the 
river  into  the  Iowa  country,  he  returned  a 
stubborn  refusal.  Later  in  the  month,  the 
militia  ascended  Rock  river  in  a  steamboat 
to  Vandruff's  Island,  which  they  found  de- 
serted, as  also  the  Indian  town  below  it. 
Black  Hawk  and  his  band  had  quietly  re- 
moved across  the  Mississippi.  But  the  militia, 
feeling  it  necessary  to  expend  their  martial 
ardor  upon  something,  set  fire  to  the  ancient 


BLACK  HAWK  AND  KEOKUK.       97 

metropolis  of  the  Sauks  and  watched  it  con- 
sume to  ashes. 

On  June  3oth,  a  formal  engagement  was  en- 
tered into,  between  Black  Hawk  and  General 
Gaines  and  Governor  Reynolds,  that  the  Sauk 
and  Fox  nations  should  at  all  times  thereafter 
reside  and  hunt  on  the  west  side  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi river,  and  not  return  to  the  east  side 
without  the  express  consent  of  the  president 
of  the  United  States  or  of  the  governor  of 
Illinois.  This  engagement  Black  Hawk  failed 
to  keep.  Just  what  actuated  him  most  in 
breaking  it  perhaps  is  not  clear,  but  among 
the  motives  at  work  stand  out  prominently  an 
unconquerable  love  for  the  place  of  his  birth 
and  a  desire  there  to  spend  the  declining 
years  of  his  life.  Viewed  from  his  standpoint, 
the  Rock  river  country  had  never  rightfully 
passed  from  the  control  of  the  Sauks ;  it  was 
the  scene  of  the  chief  events  in  the  life  of  that 
nation  since  their  expulsion  from  Wiscon- 
sin ;  nature,  moreover,  had  made  it  very  beau- 
tiful. In  returning  to  it,  to  reclaim  it,  if 
possible, — that  is,  if  the  Winnebagoes  and 
the  Pottawattomies  should  join  him,  and  the 
British  render  efficient  aid,  as  he  believed 
they  would, — Black  Hawk  showed  himself 
inspired  in  no  small  degree  by  the  same 
spirit  of  patriotism  that  in  ancient  days  made 


98  BLACK    HAWK    AND    KEOKUK. 

a  hero  of    Epaminondas,  and   in  modern  of 
Washington. 

The  re-appearance  of  the  Sauks  on  Rock 
river,  it  is  needless  to  say,  produced  a  great 
commotion.  Again  the  militia  were  called  out, 
and  the  regulars,  this  time  under  command  of 
General  Atkinson,  reinforced  Fort  Armstrong. 
Many  murders  were  committed  by  Indians  in 
different  parts  of  Illinois  ;  almost  all  of  them, 
however,  by  the  Winnebagoes, — none  by  Black 
Hawk's  band.  But  there  were  no  considerable 
accessions  to  the  invading  force,  which  at  the 
start  numbered  only  about  two  hundred  par- 
tially armed  braves  and  warriors.  Beginning 
at  length  to  realize  the  futility  of  the  attempt 
he  was  making,  Black  Hawk  sent  a  flag  of  truce 
to  Major  Stillman,  who  was  in  command  of 
the  advance  guard  of  the  militia,  and  who 
with  his  men  was  at  this  time  (May  i5th,  1832) 
encamped  near  a  small  stream  since  every- 
where known  as  Stillman's  Run.  The  bearers 
of  this  flag  were  taken  into  custody  by  some 
of  Stillman's  men,  and  soon  after  a  general 
rush  was  made  by  the  whole  command  upon 
a  small  party  of  Black  Hawk's  warriors  that 
was  descried  in  the  distance.  Having  suc- 
ceeded in  killing  two  of  these,  the  militiamen 
pushed  forward  till,  falling  into  an  ambus- 
cade hastily  set  for  them  by  Black  Hawk  him- 


BLACK  HAWK  AND  KEOKUK.       99 

self,  they  were  put  to  wild  and  ignominious 
flight.  The  story  is  told  by  Governor  Ford, 
in  his  History  of  Illinois,  that  in  Stillman's 
command  was  a  member  of  the  legal  profes- 
sion just  returned  from  riding  the  circuit. 
He  had  with  him  a  pair  of  saddle-bags  con- 
taining a  change  of  under-garments  and  sev- 
eral law  books.  These  fell  into  the  hands  of 
the  Indians,  and  the  learned  barrister  used  to 
relate  with  much  vexation  that  Black  Hawk 
"  had  decked  himself  out  in  his  finery,  appear- 
ing in  the  wild  woods,  amongst  his  savage 
companions,  dressed  in  a  ruffled  shirt  drawn 
over  his  deer-skin  leggins,  with  a  volume  of 
'Chitty's  Pleadings'  under  each  arm." 

The  fight  at  Stillman's  Run  was  followed 
by  others,  notably  those  of  Peckatonica  Creek 
and  Wisconsin  Heights,  both  very  disastrous 
to  the  Indians ;  until,  finally,  their  whole 
force  was  scattered,  killed  or  captured  at  the 
battle  of  Bad  Axe.  Black  Hawk,  together 
with  his  old  friend  Winneshiek,  the  prophet, 
fled  to  the  Big  Dells,  Wisconsin,  where  in 
August,  1832,  he  was  discovered  by  the  Win- 
nebago  chiefs,  Chaeter  and  the  One-Eyed 
De  Caury,  and  taken  to  General  Street  at 
Prairie  du  Chien.  From  Prairie  du  Chien, 
he  was  sent  to  Jefferson  Barracks,  Missouri. 
After  some  months  spent  there  in  confine- 


100  BLACK    HAWK    AND    KEOKUK. 

ment,  he  was  taken  east,  with  a  number  of 
other  Indians  (among  them  Keokuk),  and 
shown  the  great  cities  and  wonderful  resources 
of  the  American  people.  He  made  a  second 
visit  to  the  east  in  1837,  and  died  in  October, 
1838,  at  his  lodge  on  the  Iowa  river,  near 
lowaville,  to  which  locality  he  had  removed 
shortly  after  his  return  from  his  first  visit  to 
the  east. 

It  was  just  after  this  first  eastern  visit  that 
Black  Hawk  prepared  and  dictated  his  auto- 
biography—  by  far  his  greatest  achievement 
of  any  kind,  and  destined  to  make  not  merely 
his  name,  but  his  thoughts  and  his  feelings, 
known  to  distant  times.  It  reveals  him  as 
possessed  of  lofty  instincts ;  a  man  of  action, 
but  still  more  a  man  of  observation  and  re- 
flection ;  a  savage  rising  superior  to  the  plane 
of  savage  existence,  yet  illustrating  and  illu- 
minating the  ways  of  civilization  by  bringing 
them  to  the  test  of  primitive  standards. 
Moreover,  it  is  thoroughly  unique — the  only 
true  autobiography  of  an  Indian  extant.  The 
manner  of  its  production  and  publication  is 
interesting.  Black  Hawk,  having  conceived 
the  idea  of  putting  in  writing  the  reasons  for 
his  course  in  returning  to  Rock  river,  after 
the  expulsion  of  his  tribe  in  1831,  made  it 
known  to  Antoine  Le  Claire,  the  United  States 


BLACK    HAWK    AND    KEOKUK.  IOI 

Indian  interpreter  at  Rock  Island.  Le  Claire 
engaged  a  young  printer,  J.  B.  Patterson  by 
name,  as  amanuensis,  and  the  task  was  begun ; 
—Black  Hawk  dictating  to  Le  Claire,  Le 
Claire  translating  to  Patterson,  and  Patterson 
committing  to  paper.  After  the  whole  was 
finished,  Le  Claire  carefully  read  it  all  over 
to  Black  Hawk,  to  make  sure  of  its  accuracy. 
It  was  then  officially  certified  to  by  Le  Claire 
and  printed  by  Patterson,  the  original  edition 
being  in  small,  crude  volumes  bound  in  cov- 
ers of  common  paste-board.  Le  Claire  was 
until  1 86 1,  when  he  died,  a  highly  respected 
resident  of  Davenport,  Iowa,  and  Patter- 
son in  the  last  year  (1891)  has  died,  at 
an  advanced  age,  in  Oquawka,  Illinois,  where 
he  has  long  lived  and  where  he  ever  has  been 
known  as  a  man  of  the  strictest  honor.  There 
can,  therefore,  be  no  doubt  of  the  authen- 
ticity of  the  record  which  these  men  were  the 
means  of  placing  before  the  public.  Besides, 
the  internal  evidence  of  authenticity  is  con- 
vincing. William  J.  Snelling  (a  son  of 
Colonel  Josiah  Snelling  of  the  United  States 
Army,  after  whom  Fort  Snelling,  Minnesota, 
was  named),  says  in  the  North  American 
Review  for  January,  1835  : 

"That  this  [Black  Hawk's  Autobiography]  is 
the  bona  fide  work  of  Black  Hawk,  we  have  the 


102  BLACK    HAWK    AND    KEOKUK. 

respectable  testimony  of  Antoine  Le  Claire,  the 
government  interpreter  for  the  Sacs  and  Foxes, 
and  what  (as  we  have  not  the  honor  of  being 
acquainted  with  that  gentleman)  we  deem  more 
conclusive,  the  intrinsic  evidence  of  the  work 
itself.  We  will  venture  to  affirm  (and  having 
long  dwelt  among  the  aborigines,  we  conceive 
ourselves  entitled  to  do  so)  that  no  one  but  a  Sac 
Indian  could  have  written  or  dictated  such  a  com- 
position. No  white  man,  however  great  his  abil- 
ity may  be,  could  have  executed  a  work  so  thor- 
oughly and  truly  Indian." 

In  the  autobiography,  Black  Hawk  ex- 
presses opinions  upon  many  subjects, — among 
them,  marriage,  land  ownership,  rotation  in 
office,  the  savage,  as  contrasted  with  the  civil- 
ized, mode  of  warfare,  the  American  Indian 
establishment,  the  colonization  of  the  negroes. 
As  to  land  ownership,  he  was  a  precursor  of 
Henry  George,  saying : 

"  My  reason  teaches  me  that  land  cannot  be 
sold.  The  Great  Spirit  gave  it  to  his  children  to 
live  upon  and  cultivate,  as  far  as  necessary  for 
their  subsistence,  and  so  long  as  they  occupy  and 
cultivate  it  they  have  a  right  to  the  soil,  but  if 
they  voluntarily  leave  it  then  any  other  people 
have  a  right  to  settle  on  it.  Nothing  can  be  sold 
but  such  things  as  can  be  carried  away." 

His  conclusion  on  politics,  as  he  had  seen 
the  game  manipulated,  was  that — 


BLACK    HAWK    AND    KEOKUK  103 

"  The  white  people  seem  never  to  be  satisfied. 
When  they  get  a  good  father,  they  hold  councils 
at  the  suggestion  of  some  bad,  ambitious  man, 
who  wants  the  place  himself,  and  conclude  among 
themselves  that  this  man,  or  some  other  equally 
ambitious,  would  make  a  better  father  than  they 
have,  and  nine  times  out  of  ten  they  don't  get  as 
good  a  one  again." 

"  He  would  recommend,"  he  said,  "  to  his  Great 
Father  [the  President]  the  propriety  of  breaking 
up  the  present  Indian  establishment  (under  which 
new  and  inexperienced  men  were  constantly  sent 
to  deal  with  the  Indians)  and  creating  a  new  one ; 
making  the  commanding  officers  at  the  different 
frontier  posts  the  agents  of  the  government  for 
the  different  nations  of  Indians." 

In  this  recommendation,  which  is  quite  as 
apropos  to-day  as  when  made  by  Black  Hawk 
in  1833,  most  disinterested  persons  will 
heartily  concur.  On  the  then  absorbing  ques- 
tion of  negro  slavery,  his  views  were  unique. 

"  I  find,"  he  says,  "  that  a  number  of  states  ad- 
mit no  slaves,  whilst  the  remainder  hold  the  ne- 
groes as  slaves  and  are  anxious,  but  do  not  know 
how,  to  get  clear  of  them.  I  will  now  give  my 
plan,  which  when  understood  I  hope  will  be 
adopted.  Let  the  free  states  remove  all  the  ne- 
groes within  their  limits  to  the  slave  states ;  then 
let  our  Great  Father  buy  all  the  female  negroes 
in  the  slave  states  between  the  ages  of  twelve  and 
twenty,  and  sell  them  to  the  people  of  the  free 


104  BLACK    HAWK    AND    KEOKUK. 

states  for  a  term  of  years, — say,  those  under  fif- 
teen until  they  are  twenty-one,  and  those  of  and 
over  fifteen  for  five  years  ;  and  continue  to  buy 
all  the  females  in  the  slave  states  as  soon  as  they 
arrive  at  the  age  of  twelve,  and  take  them  to  the 
free  states  and  dispose  of  them  in  the  same  way 
as  the  first ;  and  it  will  not  be  long  before  the 
country  is  clear  of  the  black  skins,  about  whom, 
I  am  told,  they  have  been  talking  for  a  long  time, 
and  for  whom  they  have  expended  a  large  amount 
of  money.  I  have  no  doubt  but  our  Great  Father 
would  do  his  part  in  accomplishing  this  object 
for  his  children,  as  he  could  not  lose  much  by  it, 
and  would  make  them  all  happy.  If  the  free 
states  did  not  want  them  all  for  servants,  we  would 
take  the  remainder  in  our  nation  to  help  our 
women  make  corn." 

When  in  New  York,  he  had  witnessed  a 
balloon  ascension,  and,  concerning  this, 
remarks : 

"  We  had  seen  many  wonderful  sights  .... 
large  villages,  the  great  national  road  over  the 
mountains,  the  railroad,  steam  carriages,  ships, 
steamboats,  and  many  other  things  ;  but  we  were 
now  about  to  witness  a  sight  more  surprising  than 
any  of  these.  We  were  told  that  a  man  was  go- 
ing up  in  the  air  in  a  balloon.  We  watched  with 
anxiety  to  see  if  this  could  be  true ;  and,  to  our 
utter  astonishment,  saw  him  ascend  in  the  air  un- 
til the  eye  could  no  longer  perceive  him.  Our 
people  were  all  surprised,  and  one  of  our  young 


BLACK    HAWK    AND    KEOKUK.  105 

men  asked  the  prophet  [Winneshiek]  if  he  was 
going  up  to  see  the  Great  Spirit." 

He  and  his  party  were  also  treated  to  a  dis- 
play of  fire-works  at  Castle  Garden,  on  which 
he  makes  the  shrewd  yet  characteristically 
Indian  comment  that  "it  was  an  agreeable 
entertainment,  but  to  the  whites  who  wit- 
nessed it  less  magnificent  than  would  have 
been  the  sight  of  one  of  our  large  prairies 
when  on  fire."  The  American  women  whom 
he  met  treated  him  handsomely,  giving  him 
small  presents,  and  he  condescends  to  say  of 
them  that  they  were  "  very  kind,  very  good, 
and  very  pretty — for  pale  faces." 

Black  Hawk's  defense  of  his  course  in  the 
Black  Hawk  war  constitutes  the  principal  part 
of  his  autobiography,  and  is  plausible, — in 
many  respects  just.  The  line  of  it  already 
has  been  intimated,  however,  and  more  is  not 
necessary  here. 

Next  to  Black  Hawk,  Keokuk  is  the  lead- 
ing figure  among  the  Sauks.  He  was  younger 
than  Black  Hawk,  having  been  born  about 
1788,  and  was  descended,  on  his  mother's 
side,  it  is  said,  from  the  noted  Captain  Marin.1 
He  was  a  fine  athlete  and  horseman,  and  ex- 
tremely vain.  Inferior  to  the  older  chief  in 

1  Recollections  of  Augustin  Grignon,  vol.  in,  p.  an, 
Wis.  Hist.  Soc.  Col. 


106  BLACK    HAWK    AND    KEOKUK. 

simplicity  and  dignity  of  character,  he  was 
far  superior  to  him  in  wit,  tact  and  shrewd- 
ness. Early  perceiving  the  folly  of  contend- 
ing against  the  power  and  resources  of  the 
whites,  he  so  shaped  his  course  as  to  gain  the 
white  man's  favor.  When  word  came  that 
the  Sauks  must  remove  from  the  Rock  river, 
he  promptly  obeyed  and  sought  a  new  abode 
on  the  Iowa.  For  his  compliance  in  this 
thing  and  in  others,  he  was  recognized  by  the 
United  States  government  as  head  chief  of 
his  nation,  a  proceeding  which  gave  mortal 
offense  to  Black  Hawk. 

Of  Keokuk's  wit  a  striking  instance  has 
been  preserved.  It  seems  (so  the  story  runs) 
that  on  one  occasion  after  the  removal  of  the 
Sauks  west  of  the  Mississippi,  they  were  sum- 
moned to  a  conference  with  the  Mormons  at 
Nauvoo,  Illinois,  by  Joe  Smith,  the  Mormon 
prophet.  The  object  of  the  wily  prophet  in 
seeking  the  conference  was  to  persuade  the 
Indians  into  relinquishing  to  him  certain 
lands  which  he  coveted  for  the  church.  He 
accordingly  prepared  with  great  care  the  plea 
which  he  should  make  to  them.  At  the  ap- 
pointed time,  Keokuk  and  the  prophet,  each 
in  his  best  attire  and  attended  by  an  imposing 
retinue,  met  in  the  Mormon  temple.  In  con- 
cluding his  address,  the  prophet  said  that  it 


BLACK    HAWK    AND    KEOKUK.  107 

had  been  divinely  communicated  to  him  that 
the  Indian  tribes  of  North  America  were  the 
lost  tribes  of  the  House  of  Israel.  Moreover, 
he  had  been  commissioned  from  on  high  to 
assemble  such  of  them  as  were  near  him  and 
to  remove  them  from  where  they  were  to  a 
new  land — a  land  flowing  with  milk  and 
honey.  To  this  Keokuk  listened  very  atten- 
tively, and,  after  a  respectful  interval,  he  rose 
with  much  dignity  to  reply.  As  to  whether 
or  not  the  American  Indians  were  the  lost 
tribes  spoken  of  by  the  prophet,  he  said  he 
would  not  attempt  to  determine.  This,  how- 
ever, he  would  say :  of  milk  his  people  were 
not  fond — they  much  preferred  water;  and 
as  for  honey,  it  was  to  be  had  in  ample  quan- 
tities in  the  land  they  then  occupied.  Could 
not  the  prophet  enter  more  fully  into  par- 
ticulars ?  Did  the  government,  in  this  land 
to  which  he  desired  the  Indians  to  move,  pay 
large  annuities  ?  and  was  there  there  a  plen- 
tiful supply  of  whiskey  ?  The  conference,  it 
need  hardly  be  told,  came  to  an  abrupt  ter- 
mination.1 

Keokuk's  most  remarkable  gift  was  his  elo- 
quence. This,  according  to  all  contemporary 
accounts,  was  in  the  highest  degree  stirring 
and  effective.  It  brought  him  into  great 

1  Recollections  of  Uriah  Briggs.  Annals  of  Iowa,  1865. 


108  BLACK    HAWK    AND    KEOKUK. 

prominence  both  among  the  Indians  and  in 
councils  between  them  and  the  Americans. 
When  Black  Hawk  was  inciting  Keokuk's 
band  to  return  with  him  to  Illinois  and  join 
his  own  braves  in  the  struggle  they  were  about 
to  make  to  re-possess  the  ancient  home  of 
the  Sauks,  the  eloquence  and  address  of  Keo- 
kuk  were  put  to  a  severe  test.  He  knew  that 
the  attempt  must  end  in  disaster,  but  the 
passions  of  his  followers  were  aroused  and 
were  difficult  to  allay.  His  first  words  to 
them,  therefore,  were  of  sympathy  with  their 
alleged  wrongs.  He  told  them  that  they  had 
been  unjustly  treated,  and  hence  were  entitled 
to  revenge.  He  even  offered  to  lead  them 
against  their  foe,  "but,"  said  he, 
"  upon  this  condition  :  that  we  first  put  our  wives 
and  children  and  our  aged  men  gently  to  sleep  in 
that  slumber  which  knows  no  waking  this  side  the 

spirit  land for  we  go  upon  the  long  trail 

which  has  no  turn." 

At  the  conclusion  of  his  address,  the  desire 
of  his  young  men  for  war  was  considerably 
abated. 

After  the  surrender  of  Black  Hawk  in  Au- 
gust, 1832,  a  treaty  was  entered  into  between 
the  Sauks  and  the  United  States,  whereby  the 
latter  acquired  the  whole  of  eastern  Iowa. 
This  treaty,  on  the  part  of  the  United  States, 


BLACK    HAWK    AND    KEOKUK.  109 

was  negotiated  by  Gen.  Winfield  Scott,  and, 
at  the  request  of  the  Indians,  provided 
"  that  there  should  be  granted  to  Antoine  Le 
Claire,  interpreter,  a  part  Indian,  one  section  of 
land  opposite  Rock  Island,1  and  one  section  at 
the  head  of  the  first  rapids  above  said  island, 
within  the  county  ceded  by  the  Sauks  and 
Foxes." 

At  the  negotiation  of  the  treaty,  Keokuk 
was  the  principal  speaker  on  the  part  of  the 
Indians.  His  death  occurred  in  the  State  of 
Kansas,  whither  the  remnant  of  his  tribe  ulti- 
mately removed.  It  was  comparatively  igno- 
ble, being  the  result  of  too  heavy  potations. 

Incidentally,  mention  already  has  been 
made  of  the  island  of  Rock  Island,  which  is 
situated  in  the  Mississippi  river,  not  far  from 
the  site  once  occupied  by  Saukenuk.  This 
island  is  noteworthy  on  two  accounts :  its 
natural  beauty  and  its  , romantic  history.  Its 
extreme  length  is  two  and  seven-eighths 
miles,  and  its  extreme  width  four-fifths  of  a 
mile.  Its  area  is  eight  hundred  acres,  and 
originally  it  was  covered  by  a  dense  growth 
of  the  oak,  black  walnut,  elm,  and  basswood. 
Its  substructure  is  rock,  and  it  stands  twenty 
feet  above  the  highest  freshets.  In  the  eyes 
of  the  Indians,  it  was  not  only  a  spot  of  sur- 

1  Now  the  site  of  a  part  of  the  city  of  Davenport,  Iowa. 


110  BLACK    HAWK    AND    KEOKUK. 

passing  loveliness,  but  was  invested  with  a 
certain  sacred  charm.  Says  Black  Hawk  : 
"  It  was  our  garden,  like  the  white  people  have 
near  their  big  villages,  which  supplied  us  with 
strawberries,  blackberries,  gooseberries,  plums, 
apples,  and  nuts  of  different  kinds.  Being  situ- 
ated at  the  foot  of  the  rapids,  its  waters  supplied 
us  with  the  finest  fish.  In  my  early  life,  I  spent 
many  happy  days  on  this  island.  A  good  spirit 
had  charge  of  it,  which  lived  in  a  cave  in  the 
rocks  immediately  under  the  place  where  the  fort 
now  stands.  This  guardian  spirit  has  often  been 
seen  by  our  people.  It  was  white,  with  large 
wings  like  a  swan's,  but  ten  times  larger.  We 
were  particular  not  to  make  much  noise  in  that 
part  of  the  island  which  it  inhabited,  for  fear  of 
disturbing  it.  But  the  noise  at  the  fort  has  since 
driven  it  away,  and  no  doubt  a  bad  spirit  has 
taken  its  place." 

Rock  Island  made  its  first  considerable  ap- 
pearance in  history  as  far  back  as  1812.  At 
that  time  the  whole  Northwest  was  practically 
a  dense  wilderness.  There  were  trading  set- 
tlements of  log  huts  and  wigwams  at  Detroit 
and  Michillimackinac,  in  what  is  now  the 
state  of  Michigan,  and  at  Green  Bay,  Prairie 
du  Chien,  and  Milwaukee,  in  what  is  now  the 
state  of  Wisconsin.  Fort  Madison  had  been 
built  and  abandoned  within  the  present  limits 
of  Iowa,  and  a  few  primitive  abodes  marked 


BLACK    HAWK    AND    KEOKUK.  Ill 

the  site  of  Chicago,  Illinois.  On  the  lower 
Mississippi  were  the  old  French  posts,  Kas- 
kaskia,  Cahokia,  and  St.  Louis.  The  inhab- 
itants of  these  various  places  were  fur  traders 
and  Canadian  voyageurs,  the  latter  a  most  in- 
teresting and  picturesque  class,  improvident 
and  light-hearted  to  a  degree,  spending  the 
winter  in  hard  labor,  on  a  diet  of  corn  and 
tallow,  and  lounging  through  the  summer. 
Among  the  traders  was  a  very  remarkable 
man — one  who  exerted  the  greatest  influence 
over  the  Sauk  and  Fox  tribes.  This  man  was 
Colonel  Robert  Dickson.  He  was  an  English- 
man, who  had  come  to  America  in  1790  to 
traffic  with  the  Indians,  sacrificing  to  this  end 
a  good  social  connection  and  the  comforts  of 
civilization. 

In  the  Spring  of  1814,  Governor  William 
Clark  of  Missouri  sent  an  expedition  to  take 
possession  of  Prairie  du  Chien  and  erect  a 
fort  there.  The  fort  was  placed  on  a  small 
elevation  back  of  the  settlement,  mounted 
with  six  cannon  and  garrisoned  by  a  force  of 
seventy  men  under  Lieutenant  Joseph  Per- 
kins. It  was  named  Fort  Shelby.  Suddenly, 
on  July  1 7th,  there  appeared  before  it  a  mot- 
ley force  of  British  traders'  clerks  and  Indians, 
six  hundred  and  fifty  in  all,  from  Michilli- 
mackinac,  under  Lieutenant  Colonel  William 


112  BLACK    HAWK    AND    KEOKUK. 

McKay ;  and,  after  a  spirited  interchange  of 
cannon  balls,  the  fort  capitulated.  Mean- 
while, under  the  direction  of  General  Benja- 
min Howard,  of  the  United  States  army,  an 
expedition  was  fitting  out  at  St.  Louis  to  rein- 
force the  garrison  at  Fort  Shelby.  This 
expedition,  consisting  of  three  barges  carry- 
ing a  force  of  regular  troops  and  rangers, 
under  the  command  of  Captain  John  Camp- 
bell, of  the  First  United  States  Infantry,  started 
for  Prairie  du  Chien  on  July  iSth,  ignorant, 
of  course,  of  the  fact  that  Fort  Shelby  had 
capitulated  the  day  before.  All  went  well 
until  Rock  Island  was  reached.  Here  the 
boats  cast  anchor  for  the  night.  The  Indians 
swarmed  about  them  in  great  numbers,  mak- 
ing loud  professions  of  friendship,  but  quietly 
signifying  to  the  French  boatmen  in  charge 
that  they  desired  them  to  abandon  their 
American  comrades  and  return  down  the 
river.  This  the  Indians  did  by  seizing  the 
hands  of  the  Frenchmen  and  gently  pulling 
them  in  a  down  stream  direction.  It  was 
evident  that  the  Indians  meant  to  attack 
the  boats,  but  did  not  wish  to  injure  their 
old-time  friends,  the  French.1  The  danger 

1  Black  Hawk  explains  in  the  Autobiography  that  the 
Indians  were  at  first  sincere  in  their  expressions  of  friend- 
ship for  the  Americans  on  this  occasion,  but  that  during  the 


BLACK    HAWK    AND    KEOKUK.  113 

was  made  known  to  Campbell,  but  he  discred- 
ited its  existence.  The  next  morning  the 
fleet  set  sail  without  hindrance,  Campbell 
being  in  immediate  command  of  the  boat 
containing  the  regulars,  and  Captain  Stephen 
Rector  and  Lieutenant  Riggs,  respectively, 
of  the  other  two.  The  wind  had  risen  and 
become  so  fierce  that,  just  above  Rock  Island, 
Campbell's  boat  was  driven  on  a  large  island 
near  the  mainland,  ever  since  known  as  Camp- 
bell's Island.  Sentinels  were  placed,  and  the 
men  debarked  and  began  cooking  their  break- 
fast. But  in  a  moment  the  Indians,  in  hun- 
dreds, were  upon  them,  delivering  a  deadly 
fire.  Many  were  killed  and  wounded.  Those 
who  were  unharmed  took  refuge  in  the  boat. 
Among  the  wounded  was  Campbell  himself. 
To  add  to  the  peril  of  the  situation,  the  boat 
took  fire.  Black  Hawk,  who  commanded  the 
Indians  in  the  attack,  explains  that  this  was 
due  to  fire  arrows  prepared  by  himself  and 
shot  by  him  against  the  sail. 

In  the  meantime,  the  other  two  barges, 
which  had  drawn  far  ahead  of  that  com- 
manded by  Campbell,  had,  with  the  greatest 

night  word  reached  them  of  the  capture  of  Fort  Shelby  by 
the  British,  and  that  the  British  desired  them  to  join  in  the 
war  against  the  Americans.  This  they  could  not  find  it  in 
their  hearts  to  refuse  to  do. 


114  BLACK    HAWK    AND    KEOKUK. 

difficulty,  succeeded  in  returning  to  his  aid. 
Rector's  men,  who  were  good  sailors,  first 
lightened  their  boat  by  casting  overboard  a 
large  quantity  of  provisions,  and  then,  leap- 
ing into  the  water  on  the  side  furthest  from 
the  Indians,  pushed  it  broadside  on  against 
the  burning  boat  of  Campbell.  The  un- 
harmed and  the  wounded  were  quickly  trans- 
ferred to  Rector's  boat,  which,  having  been 
got  back  into  the  stream,  was  rowed  night  and 
day  until  it  reached  St.  Louis.  The  boat  of 
Riggs  was  outwardly  in  the  possession  of  the 
Indians  for  some  hours,  but,  it  being  well 
fortified,  the  Indians  were  unable  to  injure 
those  within,  and  finally  withdrew.  It  then 
followed  Rector's  boat  down  the  river. 

The  rough  handling  which  Campbell's  ex- 
pedition had  received  at  the  hands  of  the 
Sauk  and  Fox  tribes  naturally  excited  much 
resentment  at  St.  Louis,  and  early  in  Septem- 
ber an  expedition  was  started  for  their  vil- 
lages to  chastise  them,  and  also  to  establish  a 
fort  on  Rock  Island.  In  this  instance,  the 
expedition  consisted  of  three  hundred  and 
thirty-four  officers  and  men,  in  several  large 
barges  armed  with  cannon,  and  was  in  com- 
mand of  Major  Zachary  Taylor,  of  the  regu- 
lar service.  But  the  Indians  had  kept  the 
British  at  Fort  Shelby  (now  Fort  McKay) 


BLACK    HAWK    AND    KEOKUK.  115 

informed  of  the  approach  of  the  Americans, 
and  a  warm  reception  had  been  prepared  for 
them.  Captain  Thos.  G.  Anderson,  to  whom 
the  command  of  the  fort  had  been  turned 
over  after  its  capture,  had  sent  down  to  Rock 
Island  a  detachment  of  thirty  men  with  three 
pieces  of  artillery.  The  artillery  had  been 
planted  on  the  west  side  of  the  island  near 
the  foot  of  the  rapids,  it  being  supposed  that 
Taylor's  expedition  was  for  the  recapture  of 
the  fort  at  Prairie  du  Chien,  and,  therefore, 
must  pass  up  the  narrow  channel  between  the 
island  and  what  is  now  the  Iowa  shore.  But 
when  the  boats  came  to  anchor  (as  they  did 
by  stress  of  the  wind)  some  distance  below 
the  foot  of  Rock  Island,  the  guns  had  to  be 
dragged  to  a  position  further  down  stream. 
This,  however,  was  successfully  accomplished, 
and  on  the  morning  of  September  6,  1814,  a 
brisk  and  well  directed  fire  was  opened,  which 
after  a  short  time  so  riddled  the  barges  that 
they  were  obliged  to  drop  down  stream  out 
of  range.  A  council  of  war  was  then  called 
by  Taylor,  and  it  being  the  unanimous  opin- 
ion that  the  enemy  was  too  strong  to  be 
overcome  by  the  force  at  hand,  the  whole 
expedition  set  sail  for  Fort  Madison,  where  it 
landed,  and  where  Major  Taylor  wrote  to 
General  Howard  his  official  report  of  what 


Il6  BLACK    HAWK    AND    KEOKUK. 

had  transpired.  It  was  the  least  glorious  con- 
test in  which  the  future  hero  of  Buena  Vista 
and  Monterey  was  destined  to  be  engaged. 
Finally,  nearly  two  years  after  the  conclu- 
sion of  peace  with  Great  Britain,  the  United 
States  government  was  able  to  place  Rock 
Island  under  military  control.  In  May,  1816, 
General  Thos.  A.  Smith  landed  at  the  island 
without  opposition,  left  the  8th  United  States 
Infantry,  under  Colonel  Lawrence,  with  or- 
ders to  erect  a  fort ;  while  he  himself  pushed 
on  to  establish  a  post  (now  Fort  Snelling) 
near  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony.  Selecting  the 
extreme  northwest  point  of  the  island,  Colonel 
Lawrence  laid  off  a  rectangular  space,  four 
hundred  feet  each  way,  and  surrounded  it  by 
walls  of  hewn  timber  resting  upon  a  substruc- 
ture of  stone.  At  the  northeast,  southeast, 
and  southwest  angles,  he  caused  block  houses 
to  be  built,  and  these  he  provided  with  cannon. 
On  the  interior,  against  one  side  of  the  square, 
were  erected  the  soldiers'  barracks.  They 
were  of  hewn  timber,  the  roofs  being  made  to 
slope  inward,  that  it  might  be  difficult  for  the 
Indians  to  set  them  on  fire.  When  com- 
pleted, the  work  was  christened  Fort  Arm- 
strong, in  honor  of  the  then  Secretary  of  War. 
Coming  suddenly  into  the  view  of  the  lonely 
voyager  up  the  Mississippi,  its  whitewashed 


BLACK    HAWK    AND    KEOKUK.  1 17 

walls  and  towers  appeared,  it  has  been  said,  not 
unlike  the  outworks  of  one  of  "those  enchanted 
castles  in  an  uninhabited  desert  so  well  de- 
scribed in  the  Arabian  Nights  Entertainments." 

Fort  Armstrong  (long  since  demolished) 
was  never  subjected  to  the  ordeal  of  an  Indian 
attack,  but  only  narrowly  escaped  it  on  two 
occasions.  The  first  was  not  long  after  its 
erection.  One  day,  while  most  of  the  men 
were  at  some  distance  from  the  walls  felling 
trees,  a  party  of  warriors  headed  by  Chief 
Nekalequot,  landed  on  the  north  side  of  the 
island  and  asked  permission  to  dance  in  front 
of  the  commandant's  headquarters.  About  the 
same  time,  another  party  of  warriors,  headed  by 
Keokuk,  was  discovered  approaching  the  fort 
from  the  south  side  of  the  island.  Suspecting 
treachery,  the  Colonel  immediately  had  the  re- 
call sounded  for  the  men  and  the  cannon  run 
out.  The  Indians  were  then  ordered  to  dis- 
perse, which  they  did  with  some  precipitation. 

With  Colonel  Lawrence,  there  came  to 
Rock  Island,  as  contractor  for  supplies  to  the 
post,  a  very  striking  character — Colonel 
George  Davenport.  Colonel  Davenport  was 
a  native  of  England,  had  been  first  a  sailor 
and  then  a  soldier,  in  the  latter  capacity  hav- 
ing served  on  the  American  side  in  the  war 
of  1812.  He  built  a  house  on  the  island 


Il8  BLACK    HAWK    AND    KEOKUK. 

near  the  fort,  and  engaged  in  trade  with  the 
Indians.  In  time  he  became  very  popular 
with  them,  and  was  freely  consulted  by  them. 
Black  Hawk  especially  reposed  great  confi- 
dence in  him,  and  makes  frequent  reference 
to  him  in  the  autobiography.  It  perhaps 
was  due  to  his  presence  on  the  island  that 
the  second  projected  attack  upon  the  fort  was 
not  made.  Be  that  as  it  may,  in  April,  1832, 
Black  Hawk,  having  recrossed  the  Mississippi 
to  the  Illinois  shore,  came  up  opposite  the 
island  with  his  two  hundred  warriors  at  early 
evening,  and,  after  meditatively  surveying  it 
for  some  time,  crossed  to  it  at  one  of  the 
fords.  The  fort  was  feebly  garrisoned  at  the 
time,  and  crowded  with  panic-stricken  set- 
tlers ;  as  also  was  the  stockade  with  which 
Colonel  Davenport  had  surrounded  the  log 
store  and  dwelling  built  by  him  in  1818,  one- 
half  mile  northeast  of  the  fort.  But  the  In- 
dians did  nothing,  and  by  dawn  a  steamboat 
had  arrived  from  Jefferson  Barracks,  bringing 
a  reinforcement  to  the  fort.  On  July  4,  1845, 
Colonel  Davenport  was  murdered  in  his 
house  (a  later  and  more  pretentious  structure 
than  that  of  1818)  by  a  band  of  outlaws,  dur- 
ing the  absence  of  his  family  at  a  picnic  gather- 
ing. The  object  of  the  miscreants  was  money, 
but  they  got  little.  Since  then  this  house 


BLACK    HAWK    AND    KEOKUK.  119 

has  been  abandoned,  and  now  stands  a  pictur- 
esque ruin  on  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi. 

With  the  incident  last  related,  the  history 
of  Rock  Island  ceases  to  be  romantic.  In 
1862,  the  United  States  government  passed 
an  act  establishing  there  a  national  arsenal. 
The  work  was  begun  by  General  Rodman, 
and  was  continued  under  his  able  successor, 
General  D.  W.  Flagler.  Ten  immense  shops 
of  stone  have  been  erected,  and  when  all  is 
completed,  it  is  estimated  that  from  this  arse- 
nal alone  can  be  armed,  equipped,  and  sup- 
plied an  army  of  750,000  men.  Nor  have 
the  aesthetic  possibilities  of  the  island  been 
lost  sight  of.  It  is  still,  as  it  was  in  the  days 
of  Black  Hawk,  a  charmed  spot.  Its  wood- 
land has  been  left  largely  intact,  and  the 
phebe,  the  oriole,  the  cuckoo,  and  a  host  of 
other  birds  flit  among  the  branches  ;  while 
beneath,  from  one's  too  intrusive  feet,  scud 
away  the  pheasant,  the  rabbit,  and  the  squir- 
rel. It  is  intersected  by  quiet  and  secluded 
drives  and  walks,  an'd  abounds  in  dim  loiter- 
ing places.  But  its  greatest  charm  is  that 
with  which  it  forever  has  been  invested  by 
the  words  and  deeds  of  the  noted  chieftain, 
now,  like  Hiawatha,  departed 

"  To  the  Islands  of  the  Blessed, 
To  the  land  of  the  Hereafter." 


NAUVOO   AND    THE    PROPHET 


NAUVOO   AND    THE    PROPHET. 


"  A  church  without  a  prophet  is  not  the  church  for  me." 

Mormon  Hymn. 


INTRODUCTORY. 

THE  reformed  branch  of  the  Mormon  church, 
or  church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter-day  Saints, 
comprises  in  Iowa  some  six  thousand  persons, 
and  in  the  world  not  far  from  thirty  thou- 
sand. Its  headquarters  now  are  at  the  village 
of  Lamoni,  Iowa,  in  Decatur  county.  Here 
it  owns  a  church  building  containing  a  large 
auditorium  and  such  other  rooms  as  con- 
venience requires.  Besides  this  building,  the 
society  owns  in  Lamoni  a  substantial  pub- 
lishing house  whence  are  issued  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  (a  translation  and  revision  of  the 
old  and  new  Testaments  by  Joseph  the  Proph- 
et) the  golden  Bible  or  Book  of  Mormon, 
the  Book  of  doctrine  and  covenants,  the  Life 
of  Joseph  the  Prophet  by  Tullige,  and  another 
life  of  Joseph  by  his  mother,  entitled  Joseph 
Smith  and  his  Progenitors.  This  branch  of 
the  Mormon  church  eschews  polygamy  and 
123 


124     NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET. 

the  doctrine  of  a  blood  atonement.1  It  claims 
to  adhere  strictly  to  the  teachings  of  Joseph 
the  prophet  as  contained  in  the  Book  of  Mor- 
mon. At  its  head  is  Joseph  Smith,  Jr.,  son 
of  the  founder  of  the  Mormon  faith — a  man 
of  exemplary  life  and  character  and  of  entire 
sincerity.  Proselytes  to  the  society  are  made 
by  missionaries,  who  are  sent  to  England,  to 
Wales,  to  Denmark,  to  Australia,  and  to  the 
Society  Islands.  Some  also  are  won  to  its 
membership  through  a  mission  which  is  main- 
tained in  Utah. 

The  events  which  led  to  the  establishment 
of  the  reformed  Mormon  church  may  briefly 
be  told.  On  the  Exodus  of  the  Mormons 
from  Nauvoo  in  1846,  Joseph  Smith,  son  of 
the  prophet,  remained  behind  with  Emma 
Smith,  his  mother.  Intimidation  and  violence 
were  made  use  of  by  Brigham  Young  to  com- 
pel Emma  Smith  to  follow  the  fortunes  of  the 
church,  but  without  avail.  Indeed,  the  evidence 
is  strong  that  at  this  time  the  prophet's  widow 

*  The  doctrine  of  Blood  Atonement  came  into  existence 
in  the  Mormon  church  after  the  removal  to  Utah.  Stated 
briefly,  it  is  that  apostasy  and  all  other  sins  against  the 
church  are  to  be  punished  with  death.  The  central  idea  of 
it  has  thus  been  put  by  Brigham  Young:  "  There  are  sins 
that  can  be  atoned  for  by  an  offering  upon  an  altar,  as  in 
ancient  days;  and  there  are  sins  that  the  blood  of  a  lamb, 
of  a  calf,  or  of  turtle  doves,  cannot  remit,  but  they  must  be 
atoned  for  by  the  blood  of  man." 


NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET.      125 

did  not  believe  in  the  Mormon  doctrine. 
Her  son,  Joseph,  who  in  youth  was  constantly 
under  her  care  and  influence,  did  not  con- 
sider himself  a  Mormon  as  late  as  1853,  when 
he  reached  his  majority.  Meanwhile  those  of 
the  Mormons  hostile  to  Young  (of  whom 
there  were  many  in  Illinois,  Iowa,  and 
Wisconsin)  were  ineffectually  striving  to 
form  a  new  religious  society.  The  chief 
difficulty  was  that  too  many  aspired  to  the 
leadership.  Sidney  Rigdon,  failing  of  it,  had 
retired  with  a  few  disciples  to  his  old  home 
in  Pennsylvania.  James  J.  Strang — an  elder 
under  Joseph  the  prophet — conceiving  a  novel 
plan,  had  gone  to  Big  Beaver  Island,  in  Lake 
Michigan,  where  he  had  planted  a  Mormon 
colony,  with  himself  at  the  head  under  the 
title  of  King  Strang.  Here  he  flourished  for 
a  time,  showing  some  ability  as  a  ruler;  but 
having  countenanced  polygamy,  enjoined 
upon  .the  women  of  his  demesne  the  wearing 
of  bloomers,  and  committed  various  other 
follies,  he,  like  his  celebrated  predecessor  and 
model,  Smith,  was  assassinated,  and  his  people 
dispersed. 

At  length  an  organization  of  the  Saints  was 
effected  at  Zarahelma,  Wisconsin,  and  in 
April,  1860,  Joseph  Smith,  Jr.,  consented  to 
put  himself  at  the  head.  This  he  did  only 


126      NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET. 

after  many  solicitations.  While  he  was  pon- 
dering the  matter  different  plans  of  action 
were  proposed  to  him  by  admiring  neighbors. 
One  was  "to  go  to  Utah,  depose  Brigham 
Young,  become  rich,  wed  three  or  four  wives, 
and  enjoy  existence."  On  uniting  with  the 
Mormons,  Joseph  Smith,  Jr.,  agreed  to  remain 
at  Nauvoo  for  five  years  in  order  to  try 
whether  the  place  could  not  again  be  made  a 
rallying  point  for  the  church.  When  the 
news  of  this  got  abroad,  a  meeting  was  called 
in  hot  haste  by  the  gentiles  of  the  country 
round  about,  and  resolutions  passed  protest- 
ing against  the  return  of  the  Mormons.  At 
a  subsequent  meeting  it  was  even  put  to  vote 
and  carried  that  "no  Mormon  should  be  per- 
mitted to  preach  or  pray  in  the  county." 
Copies  of  these  different  resolutions  were 
formally  served  on  Smith.  He  also  received 
letters  threatening  him  with  personal  violence. 
In  1865,  the  headquarters  of  the  new  church 
were  removed  to  Piano,  Illinois.  While  here 
Smith  carefully  questioned  his  mother  on  cer- 
tain points  respecting  his  father,  the  prophet, 
about  which  there  had  been  (and  yet  is)  much 
controversy.  In  this  interview  Emma  Smith 
said  that  the  prophet  had  never  had 
any  other  wife ;  nor  ever,  so  far  as  she 
knew,  had  sustained  unlawful  relations  to  any 


NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET.      127 

woman.  She  said  also  that  she  believed  the 
church  to  have  been  established  by  divine 
direction.  To  use  her  own  words:  "Joseph 
Smith  [unaided]  could  neither  write  nor  dic- 
tate a  coherent  and  well-worded  letter,  let 
alone  dictating  a  book  like  the  Book  of  Mor- 
mon. And  although  I  was  an  active  partici- 
pant in  the  scenes  that  transpired,  and  was 
present  during  the  translation  of  the  plates, 
and  had  cognizance  of  things  as  they  tran- 
spired, it  is  marvelous  to  me,  'a  marvel  and 
a  wonder  as  much  as  to  anybody  else.'" 
Emma  Smith  said  further  concerning  the  com- 
position of  the  Book  of  Mormon:  "Joseph 
would  dictate  hour  after  hour ;  and  when  re- 
turning after  meals,  or  after  interruptions,  he 
would  at  once  begin  where  he  had  left  off, 
without  either  seeing  the  manuscript  or  hear- 
ing any  portion  of  it  read  to  him.  This  was 
a  usual  thing  for  him  to  do.  It  would  have 
been  improbable  that  a  learned  man  [of  him- 
self] could  do  this ;  and  for  one  so  ignorant 
and  unlearned  as  he  was,  it  was  simply  impos- 
sible." Piano  continued  to  be  the  headquar- 
ters of  the  Reformed  Mormon  church  until 
the  year  1883,  when  they  were  again  removed ; 
this  time  to  Lamoni,  Iowa. 

Facts  such  as  the  above,  respecting  a  relig- 
ious society  almost  unknown  to  the  world,  yet 


128      NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET. 

to-day  vigorously  at  work  about  us,  show  the 
wonderful  vitality  of  all  forms  of  Mormon- 
ism.  It  is  the  object  of  the  following  sketch 
to  afford  what  explanation  of  this  vitality  may 
lie  in  an  exact  portrayal  of  primitive  Mormon 
life — of  life  in  Nauvoo  in  the  days  of  Joseph 
the  prophet. 


I. 

NAUVOO  means  the  Place  Beautiful.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  of  this,  for  was  not  the  inter- 
pretation by  Joseph  Smith,  who  founded  and 
christened  the  town  and  who  alone  among 
men  held  the  key  to  that  cabalistic  tongue, 
the  Reformed  Egyptian,  whence  the  word 
was  derived?1 

But  Nauvoo  certainly  is  beautiful  in  its 
commanding  situation  on  the  Illinois  bluffs. 
Before  it,  in  a  curve  of  great  majesty, — convex 
toward  the  Iowa  shore  —  sweeps  the  Missis- 
sippi. A  level  tract  of  country  extends  east 
from  the  river  for  a  mile  and  a  half,  or  to 
where  a  north  and  south  line  would  form  a 
chord  connecting  the  extremities  of  the  arc 
or  curve  which  the  river  makes.  An  acclivity 
begins  along  this  imaginary  line  and  increases 
gradually  until  an  elevation  is  reached  of  one 
hundred  and  forty  feet  from  the  river  margin. 

'An  interesting  surmise  as  to  the  origin  of  the  word  Nau- 
voo has  been  given  the  writer  of  this  paper  by  Professor 
Toy,  of  Harvard.  It  is  this:  "There  is  a  Hebrew  word, 
naweh,  which  means  '  beautiful.'  Nauvoo  is  not  Hebrew 
in  form,  but  might  have  been  a  mispronunciation  of  the 
word  mentioned.' 

129 


130      NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET. 

On  this  elevation  is  the  Nauvoo  of  to-day  and 
here  in  the  past  was  the  wide-famed  Mormon 
Temple.  But  the  Nauvoo  of  the  past  mainly 
was  on  the  flat  between  the  river  and  the 
acclivity.  Opposite  Nauvoo  are  two  features 
which  enter  into  the  landscape  with  it :  one, 
a  wide  expanse  of  low  land,  upon  which,  near 
the  river,  has  been  reared  the  hamlet  of  Mont- 
rose  ;  the  other,  a  mass  of  bluff,  which  is  to 
the  south  of  the  hamlet,  and  springs  boldly 
up  from  the  water's  edge.  It  is  one  hundred 
and  seventy-one  feet  to  the  top  of  this  bluff, 
and  here  many  summer  cottages  have  been 
built;  here  also  yearly  the  Methodists  hold 
great  camp  meetings.  The  view  of  Nauvoo 
from  the  river  is  striking.  The  town  is  dis- 
tinctly visible,  yet  seems  illusory  and  far 
away.  The  slope  which  it  crowns  is  inclined 
gently  from  the  eye,  and  hence  the  streets 
and  buildings  can  be  discerned  with  ease. 
At  the  same  time  the  distance  is  such  as  to 
lend  to  the  whole  an  air  of  remoteness  and 
insubstantiality.  Especially  is  this  true  on 
days  flooded  with  sunshine.  The  place  then 
appears  as  though  it  were  held  aloft  against 
the  blue  sky  in  the  grasp  of  some  Colossus. 
At  the  distance  of  the  river,  by  far  the  most 
noticeable  object  in  Nauvoo  is  the  spire  of 
the  Catholic  church  of  St.  Mary.  This 


NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET.     131 

church  stands  near  the  spot  formerly 
occupied  by  the  Temple.  Its  spire  is  as 
high  as  was  that  of  the  Temple  (one  hundred 
and  fifty  feet)  and  serves,  as  did  the  Temple 
spire,  strongly  to  accentuate  the  landscape. 
Up  and  down  the  Mississippi,  and  from 
miles  away  in  Iowa,  it  can  be  seen — a  land- 
mark lofty  and  impressive.  In  beholding  it, 
now  in  plain  view,  now  lost,  now  in  view  again, 
one  can  understand  how  the  zealous  Mormon 
leaving  Nauvoo  an  exile  would  turn  to  gaze 
for  the  last  time  on  the  angel  with  golden 
trumpet  which  surmounted  the  spire  of  the 
Temple.  Near  St.  Mary's,  nestled  among 
evergreens  and  shrubs,  is  the  convent  of  the 
Benedictine  sisters.  In  thus  pitching  upon 
picturesque  and  commanding  sites  for  their 
ecclesiastical  buildings  the  Catholic  church 
instructs  all  others.  Throughout  the  great 
valley  of  the  Mississippi,  at  Dubuque,  at 
Muscatine,  at  many  towns,  the  church 
edifices,  the  convents,  the  schools  of  the  great 
Catholic  organization  may  be  seen  occupying 
the  boldest  bluffs,  the  most  sightly  elevations 
—  spots  whence  can  be  flung  abroad  over 
woodland  and  meadow  and  stream  the  music 
of  their  matin  and  vesper  bells.  In  securing 
a  place  for  herself — at  once  so  eligible  and 
so  historic  —  in  Nauvoo,  the  Catholic  church 


132     NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET. 

not  only  has  followed  a  wise  and  time-honored 
custom,  but  has  set  a  seal  of  triumph  against 
not  the  least  of  her  enemies. 

To  look  down  from  the  old  Temple  site  on 
a  day  in  early  June  is  to  witness  a  scene  of 
great  interest  and  animation.  The  flat  is 
covered  with  strawberry  fields,  and  scores  of 
pickers  are  bending  and  crouched  among  the 
vines.  So  distant  are  they  that  they  seem 
bees  hovering  among  the  sweets  of  the  clover 
bloom.  Beyond  them  is  the  swirling  and 
eddying  river ;  beyond  the  river  is  the  bluff— 
Bluff  Park  it  is  called  —  where  the  camp- 
meetings  are  held,  now  embowered  in  green 
foliage,  but  disclosing  glimpses  of  the  white 
tents  of  the  campers  ;  and  over  all  are  the 
dazzling  sunshine  and  the  sweet,  soft  air. 
The  evening  hours  at  this  season  are  not  less 
enjoyable  than  those  of  the  day.  First  comes 
the  sunset,  a  royal  pageant  in  scarlet  in  the 
far  distant  West.  Could  Joseph  have  been 
moved  to  his  prophecy,  that  one  day  "the 
saints  would  become  a  mighty  people  in  the 
midst  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,"  by  fore- 
gleams  of  promise  as  to  this  western  land  in 
the  Nauvoo  sunsets  ?  Later  there  is  singing 
in  Bluff  Park,  perhaps  by  a  large  congregation 
of  worshipers,  perhaps  by  a  small  company, 
and  the  tones  come  floating  to  the  ear  across 


NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET.      133 

a  space  which  so  perfectly  modulates  and 
harmonizes  them  that  they  seem  to. sustain 
no  relations  to  any  purely  human  source. 
The  many  camp  fires  which  flash  and 
twinkle  among  the  trees  remind  one  of  the 
similar  fires  which  a  half  century  ago  were 
lighted  on  the  same  shore  by  the  Mormon 
exiles  in  the  bleak,  chill  February  nights 
which  they  spent  there  in  preparation  for 
their  flight  into  the  wilderness.  Having  re- 
tired to  bed  in  a  spacious  chamber  of  one  of 
the  old  Mormon  dwellings  on  the  acclivity, 
the  traveler  can  often  see  from  his  window  the 
search-light  of  some  approaching  river  packet 
as,  with  the  fierce  eyeball  of  a  Cyclops,  it  roves 
along  the  channel  and  occasionally  casts  an 
inquiring  and  all-revealing  glance  over  the 
land. 

In  the  autumn  there  are  other  sights.  The 
great  slope  from  the  church  of  St.  Mary  to 
the  river,  and  the  many  lesser  slopes  into 
which  this  great  one  is  broken  at  the  summit, 
are  covered  with  vineyards,  and  in  the  last 
days  of  September  and  first  days  of  October 
come  in  endless  profusion  the  purple  and 
white  clusters  of  the  Delaware,  the  Concord, 
and  the  Catawba.  The  air  is  slumbrous  and 
full  of  haze;  the  river,  Bluff  Park,  and  the 
fields  lately  rife  with  the  bloom  and  fruit  of 


134      NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET. 

the  strawberry,  all  are  steeped  in  a  mellow 
glory.  To  be  in  Nauvoo  then  is  to  be  in 
Champagne  or  Burgundy.  A  large  part  of 
the  grapes  grown  there  are  made  into  wine 
on  the  spot :  into  Catawba  and  other  brands. 
Eighty  thousand  gallons  are  not  an  unusual 
product  for  a  single  season. 

The  Nauvoo  of  Mormon  days  was  sparsely 
scattered  over  an  area  of  some  six  or  eight 
square  miles.  It  was  laid  out  in  blocks  of 
four  acres,  and  each  block  was  subdivided  into 
four  lots.  In  this  way  generous  room  for 
gardens  was  provided  in  connection  with  the 
dwellings.  The  principal  street  of  the  town 
was  Main  street,  which  extended  north  and 
south  across  the  flat  or  peninsula,  as  it  may 
be  called,  at  a  distance  of  a  mile  from  the 
river.  Another  street  of  importance  was 
Water  street,  which  crossed  Main  at  right 
angles,  and  was  the  street  nearest  the  river  on 
the  southern  side  of  the  peninsula.  There 
were  eight  streets  running  entirely  across  the 
peninsula  north  and  south  besides  Main,  and 
nineteen  running  east  and  west  besides  Water. 
The  names  of  some  of  the  former  were  Part- 
ridge, Carlin,  Granger,  and  Bain  ;  of  some  of 
the  latter — familiar  becauseof  havingbelonged 
to  distinguished  Mormons— Taylor,  Carlos, 
Hyrum,  Joseph,  Young,  Knight,  Ripley, 


NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET.     135 

Munson,  Kimball,  and  Parley.  The  Temple 
stood  in  the  centre  of  a  block  facing  on  Wells 
street,  a  thoroughfare  that  because  of  the 
broken  nature  of  the  ground  was  only  par- 
tially completed.  Back  of  it  were  the  similar 
uncompleted  streets,  Woodruff,  Page,  Barnett, 
and  others.  The  population  of  Nauvoo  in 
its  prime  (1844)  was  perhaps  not  far  from 
ten  or  twelve  thousand  persons.  Its  numbers 
frequently  have  been  put  at  fifteen  or  twenty 
thousand,  but  with  exaggeration.  Its  growth 
had  been  rapid  in  the  extreme.  In  the 
summer  of  1839  there  were  but  a  few  log 
buildings.  By  June,  1840,  two  hundred  and 
fifty  buildings  of  log,  frame,  and  brick  had 
been  erected  and  more  were  under  way. 
During  the  years  from  1840  to  1844  nearly 
four  thousand  persons  were  added  to  the  pop- 
ulation of  Nauvoo  from  foreign  lands.  A 
short  distance  south  of  the  town  was  discovered 
and  opened  a  quarry  of  hard  limestone  suit- 
able for  the  best  uses  of  architecture. 
Steam  saw  mills  were  set  up.  There  were  also 
put  in  operation  a  steam  flour  mill,  a  tool 
factory,  a  foundry,  and  a  manufactory  of 
china  ware.  A  steam  boat  owned  and  navi- 
gated by  Mormons  plied  between  Nauvoo  and 
Fulton,  Fort  Madison,  Keokuk,  Warsaw,  and 
other  adjacent  villages  on  the  Mississippi. 


136     NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET. 

Capping  all,  two  regular  publications  —  the 
Times  and  Seasons  and  the  Nauvoo  Neighbor — 
were  issued,  and  found  readers  as  far  east  as 
Philadelphia  and  Boston.  At  the  time  of  the 
Exodus  of  the  Mormons  in  1846,  an  eye  wit- 
ness of  events  counted  from  the  roof  of  the 
Temple  two  thousand  houses  in  the  city 
proper  and  in  the  suburbs  five  hundred  more. 
One  half  of  these  were  mere  shanties  built 
some  of  logs  and  some  of  poles  plastered 
over;  others  were  framed.  Of  the  remainder 
about  twelve  hundred  were  tolerably  fit 
dwellings;  six  hundred  of  them  at  least  were 
good  brick  or  frame  structures.  The  number 
of  buildings  made  wholly  of  brick  was  about 
five  hundred,  a  goodly  proportion  of  them 
large  and  handsome. 

To-day  Nauvoo  is  a  town  of  twelve  hundred 
people.  To  the  visitor  the  evidences  of 
former  and  long  departed  prosperity  pre- 
sent themselves  on  every  hand.  At  the  foot 
of  Main  street,  to  the  left  as  one  faces  the 
river,  stands  the  unfinished  Nauvoo  house, 
the  hotel  commanded  by  Jehovah  in  a  vision 
to  Joseph  Smith  to  be  built  "for  the  boarding 
of  strangers,"  and  in  which,  according  to  the 
prophet's  interpretation  of  Jehovah's  words, 
he  (the  prophet)  "and  his  seed  after  him 
were  to  have  place  from  generation  to  gene- 


NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET.     137 

ration,  forever  and  ever."  The  building  as 
projected,  and  in  part  laid  out,  was  large.  Not 
all  of  the  foundation  even  was  laid  at  the 
time  of  the  Exodus ;  but  the  south-west  angle 
was  partly  completed  and  exhibits  in  the 
brick  and  stone  work  traces  of  superior  me- 
chanical skill.  The  bricks  especially  are 
seen  to  have  been  laid  with  a  precision  and 
pointed  with  a  skill  hard  to  be  excelled. 
The  rooms  within  the  completed  part  are  lofty 
and  spacious,  and  look  forth  upon  the  hurry- 
ing river  not  forty  feet  away.  Emma  Smith, 
the  wife  of  the  prophet,  the  electro,  Cyria  or 
elect  lady  of  his  writings,  lived  for  some 
years  in  these  rooms  after  the  murder  of  her 
husband.  One  block  to  the  north  of  the 
crumbling  Nauvoo  House  is  the  frame  build- 
ing known  as  the  Mansion  House,  in  which 
the  prophet  lived  and  kept  tavern  while  await- 
ing the  completion  of  his  permanent  abode. 
The  rooms  of  this  house  also  are  large ;  in  one 
of  them  is  a  closet  which  on  casual  inspection 
seems  to  be  a  very  ordinary  affair,  but  which 
has  its  secret.  Protruding  from  cross  pieces 
fastened  against  its  four  sides  are  wooden  pegs 
for  the  support  of  clothing.  Pull  out  (as 
you  can  if  you  wish  to  try)  from  the  cross 
piece  on  the  left  hand  side  of  the  closet  the 
further  peg,  then  strike  upward  the  cross 


138     NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET. 

piece  itself.  It  will  respond  to  your  blow  by 
rising  on  a  pivot,  and  the  top  edge  of  a  low 
door  will  be  revealed.  This  door  when 
opened  discloses  a  shaft  just  large  enough  to 
contain  a  perpendicular  ladder  reaching  to 
the  loft  of  the  house.  When  Joseph  Smith 
was  being  hotly  pursued  by  the  authorities  of 
Illinois  in  1842-3  on  requisition  from  the  gov- 
ernor of  Missouri,  his  whereabouts  were  often 
difficult  to  fix.  That  he  was  somewhere  on  his 
own  premises  was  suspected.  That  he  was  in 
the  loft  of  his  dwelling  would  seem  strongly 
to  be  indicated  by  the  existence  of  the 
contrivance  for  concealment  just  described. 
Across  Main  street  from  the  Nauvoo  House 
is  the  old,  weather-beaten  frame  building 
in  which  Emma  Smith,  the  wife  of  the 
prophet,  passed  many  of  the  declining  years 
of  her  life.  This  building  with  the  land  about 
it  was  the  first  piece  of  property  bought  by 
the  prophet  on  reaching  Nauvoo.  In  the 
door-yard,  directly  above  the  river  and 
shielded  by  shrubbery,  are  the  graves  of 
Emma  Smith  and  of  other  members  of  the 
prophet's  family. 

Looking  up  Main  street  the  visitor  sees  a 
goodly  number  of  large  and  substantial  but 
widely  separated  brick  edifices.  Among  them 
are  the  Hall  which  was  used  by  the  Mormon 


NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET.     139 

Masonic  order  and  the  residences  which  were 
occupied  by  Brigham  Young  and  the  Elders, 
Kimball  and  Pratt.  Young's  residence,  like 
the  most  of  those  built  by  the  Mormons,  is 
protected  by  quaintly  notched  fire  walls  above 
the  gables — such  walls  as  are  to  be  seen  above 
the  old  Boston  State  House  and  in  prints  of 
the  old  parts  of  cities  in  Europe.  The  house 
of  John  D.  Lee — the  Mormon  Bishop  so 
notorious  in  connection  with  the  Mountain 
Meadow  massacre — which  for  a  long  time 
stood  on  Carlin  street,  has  been  torn  down. 
The  Hall  of  the  Seventies,  which  marked  the 
corner  of  Granger  and  Kimball  streets,  also 
has  been  removed.  Of  the  Council  House, 
in  which  religious  and  other  meetings  were 
held  during  the  erection  of  the  Temple,  and 
which  stood  at  the  intersection  of  Water  and 
Granger  streets,  only  the  foundation  remains. 
The  office  of  the  Times  and  Seasons  was  one 
block  west  of  the  Council  House  on  Water 
and  Bain  streets.  It  has  been  removed  from 
this  site,  and  is  now  in  another  part  of  the  town. 
The  office  of  the  Nauvoo  Expositor — famous 
for  the  issue  of  a  solitary  edition  ere  its  type 
were  pied  in  the  street  by  order  of  the  indig- 
nant prophet,  whom  it  had  assailed  for  im- 
moral practices — still  stands  in  its  original 
place  on  Mulholland  street  near  Temple 


140     NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET. 

square.  Just  west  of  Temple  square,  and 
down  the  acclivity  from  it  in  the  same  en- 
closure with  the  convent  of  the  Benedictine 
Sisters,  is  the  small  stone  structure — now  used 
for  a  stable — in  which  the  military  organiza- 
tion of  Nauvoo — the  celebrated  Nauvoo  Le- 
gion— kept  their  arms  and  other  accoutre- 
ments. The  wide  gaps  and  spaces  now  ex- 
isting between  the  different  buildings  that 
have  come  down  from  Mormon  days — on 
Main  street  especially — have  been  caused  by 
the  decay  and  removal  of  the  structures  of 
logs  and  boards  which  once  closed  them  up. 
Of  the  buildings  removed  some  are  to  be 
found  across  the  river  in  Montrose,  whither 
they  have  been  transported  in  winter  time 
upon  the  ice.  All  about  Nauvoo,  on  the  ac- 
clivity and  on  the  flat,  are  to  be  found  the 
partially  obliterated  traces  of  old  walls  and 
cellars  betokening  the  great  decrease  in  the 
number  of  places  for  habitation  which  the 
years  have  brought  since  the  departure  of  the 
Mormons.  It  is  little  short  of  startling  that 
Salt  Lake  City  — the  site  of  which,  when 
chosen  by  the  exiles  from  Nauvoo,  was  yet 
hardly  within  the  United  States  and  was  a 
thousand  miles  from  the  nearest  civilization, 
should  for  many  years  have  been  connected 
with  the  rest  of  the  world  by  railroads ;  while 


NAUVOO    AND    THE    PROPHET.  14! 

Nauvoo  itself  continues  to  be  brought  into 
outside  relations  only  by  the  Mississippi  river. 
With  this  thought  in  mind,  it  does  not  seem  so 
strange  that  there  should  be  persons  in  Nauvoo 
to-day  who  almost  wish  the  exiles  back  again. 
The  Mormon  Temple,  as  has  been  said, 
stood  in  the  centre  of  Temple  square  on 
Wells  street.  Not  a  vestige  of  its  walls  or  of 
the  stone  blocks,  which  composed  its  walls,  is 
now  to  be  found  there.  The  spot  is  covered 
in  part  by  houses  and  in  part  by  outbuildings 
and  the  debris  of  back  yards.  A  structure  as 
light  and  perishable  as  the  frame  dwelling 
first  owned  by  the  prophet  in  Nauvoo  still 
stands,  but  the  great  Temple  with  its  steps, 
its  pilasters,  and  its  tower,  has  disappeared 
forever.  During  the  Mormon  exodus  it  was 
sold  to  a  French  communistic  society,  called 
Icarians,  under  the  leadership  of  Etienne 
Cabet;  and,  while  under  their  control,  in 
November,  1848,  was  destroyed  by  fire  with 
the  exception  of  the  bare  walls.  In  1850, 
three  of  these  went  down  before  a  tornado, 
which  the  Icarians  described  as  of  frightful 
sublimity.  The  fourth  or  west  wall  remained 
in  place  some  years  longer,  being  strongly 
joined  at  the  sides  to  an  interior  wall  parallel 
with  it.  The  only  picture  of  the  ruins  of  the 
Temple,  which  exists  exhibits  this  west  wall 


142     NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET. 

surrounded  at  the  base  by  heaped  and  broken 
masonry.  For  many  years  these  ruins — like 
those  of  the  Roman  Coliseum — were  a  stone 
quarry  for  other  edifices.  There  is  hardly  a 
building  of  any  pretensions  in  Nauvoo, 
erected  within  the  last  forty  years,  which  has 
not  somewhere,  in  its  foundation  or  super- 
structure, stone  from  the  Mormon  Temple. 
It  is  a  hard  white  stone  susceptible  of  hand- 
some finish.  The  post-office  is  built  of  it 
almost  entirely,  and  it  is  to  be  found  in  the 
walls  of  churches  and  of  the  huge  wine  cel- 
lars. In  1860,  the  remaining  fragments  were 
carted  from  the  Temple  site  and  pitched  helter- 
skelter  into  an  orchard  lot  owned  by  one  of 
Nauvoo's  oldest  residents.  There  they  can  be 
seen  now :  clock  face,  (for  the  Temple  had  a 
clock  among  its  embellishments)  quaint,  sun- 
visaged,  pilaster,  capitals,  and  much  besides. 

Visiting  this  orchard  one  bright  spring  day, 
I  seated  myself  on  a  stone  block,  in  somewhat 
the  mood  of  Macaulay's  famous  New  Zea- 
lander,  and  drifted  into  retrospect.  It  was 
the  6th  of  April,  1841, — the  day  on  which  the 
corner-stones  of  the  Temple  were  to  be  laid 
in  place.  Approaching  Nauvoo  from  Carth- 
age and  from  other  points  eastward  were  farm 
vehicles  in  great  numbers  and  of  every  kind, 
bringing  crowds  to  celebrate  the  event.  Boats 


NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET.      143 

brought  many  from  Warsaw,  from  Fort  Madi- 
son, and  from  Montrose.  The  town  was  en  fete, 
The  Nauvoo  Legion  paraded  in  full  strength, 
with  new  arms  and  new  uniforms.  Lieutenant- 
General  Joseph  Smith,  resplendent  in  gold 
cord  and  cocked  hat  and  escorted  by  an 
equally  resplendent  staff,  rode  through  the 
streets.  Every  where  cheers  greeted  him.  There 
were  martial  music  and  thunder  of  cannon. 
The  ladies  of  Nauvoo  presented  a  flag  to  the 
Legion.  A  procession  was  formed,  and  the 
line  of  march  taken  to  the  site  of  the  Temple. 
The  site  reached,  hymns  were  sung,  and 
President  Sidney  Rigdon  made  an  address. 
The  architect  lowered  the  first  stone — the  one 
at  the  southeast  corner  of  the  edifice — into 
position.  The  prophet,  who  had  laid  aside 
his  military  regalia,  blessed  the  stone  in  these 
words:  "This  principal  corner-stone  in  rep- 
resentation of  the  first  presidency  is  now  duly 
laid  in  honor  of  the  great  God ;  and  may  it 
there  remain  until  the  whole  fabric  is  com- 
pleted ;  and  may  the  same  be  accomplished 
speedily  that  the  Saints  may  have  a  place  to 
worship  God  and  the  Son  of  Man  have  where 
to  lay  his  head." 

From  the  6th  of  April,  1841,  it  now  came 
to  be  the  24th  of  May,  1845.  I*  was  si* 
o'clock  on  a  clear  and  beautiful  morning. 


144  NAUVOO    AND    THE    PROPHET. 

The  walls  of  the  Temple  were  up,  and  the 
cap-stone  ready  to  be  put  in  place.  The 
ceremonies  were  directed  by  the  Twelve 
headed  by  President  Brigham  Young,  and  a 
great  crowd  of  the  Saints  were  gathered  on 
the  slope  of  the  acclivity  to  witness  them. 
On  the  summit  of  the  west  wall  a  band  of 
musicians  played  national  and  religious  airs. 
The  stone  was  brought  forward,  and  the 
crowd  broke  forth  "into  shouts  of  Grace, 
Grace  unto  it!"  It  was  lowered  into  posi- 
tion, and  this  shout  was  exchanged  for  "  Ho- 
sanna  to  God  and  the  Lamb !  Amen !  and  Amen !" 
repeated  three  times — an  acclaim,  which 
seemed  not  only  to  give  joy  on  earth,  but  to 
fill  the  heavens  with  gladness.  A  hymn  rose 
on  the  air : 

"  Have  you  heard  the  revelation 
Of  this  latter  dispensation 
Which  is  unto  every  Nation, 
Oh !  prepare  to  meet  thy  God  ? 

We  are  a  band  of  brethren, 
And  we  rear  the  Lord  a  temple, 
And  the  cap-stone  now  is  finished, 
And  we'll  sound  the  news  abroad." 

The  Temple,  the  structure  which,  it  was 
proudly  claimed,  exhibited  more  of  revela- 
tion, more  of  splendor,  and  more  of  God 
than  all  others  in  the  world,  was  standing 
before  me  in  completed  outline.  Support- 
ing the  cornice  were  the  thirty  hewn  stone 


NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET.     145 

pilasters ;  the  base  of  each  a  crescent  moon ; 
the  capital  of  each  a  sun,  with  human  face 
surmounted  by  two  hands  holding  trumpets. 
There  were  the  two  great  stories  and  two  half 
stories ;  the  four  tiers  of  windows,  gothic  and 
round  in  alternation;  the  golden  letters,  "Holi- 
ness to  the  Lord,"  above  the  entrance ;  and, 
soaring  one  hundred  feet  over  all  into  the  blue 
sky,  the  spire. 

Bringing  now  my  revery  to  an  end,  for  the 
sun  had  gone  down,  I  rose  with  the  thought : 
So  long  past  are  Mormon  days  in  the  Northwest 
that  their  occurrences,  like  those  of  other  days 
of  the  same  period  the  world  over,  begin  to 
take  on  an  air  of  strangeness  and  of  romance.1 

1  Upon  an  old  building  in  Nauvoo,  situated  at  the  corner 
of  Mulholland  and  Woodruff  streets,  which  at  one  time 
was  the  abode  of  the  officers  of  the  Icarian  society,  may 
be  read  the  following  inscription :  "  Celui  qui  a  pris  I'hon- 
neur  d'une  personne  ne  peut  plus  rien  lui  prendre."  [In 
good  English  paraphrase:  "He  who  filches  from  me  my 
good  name  takes  that  which  ....  makes  me  poor  in- 
deed."] Elsewhere  in  Nauvoo  a  German  who,  through 
much  litigation  over  a  title,  became  deeply  impressed  with 
the  fleeting  character  of  earthly  possessions,  has  thus  re- 
corded himself  on  the  weather-boards  of  his  house  just  be- 
neath the  western  gable : 

"Das  haus  ist  mein,  und  dock  nicht  me  in; 

Wer  nach  mir  kommt  wird  auch  so  seln." 
[This  house  is  mine  and  yet  not  mine.     It  will  be  the  same 
with  him  who  shall  own  it  after  me.]     From  all  of  which  it 
appears  that  the  Mormons  have  not  been  the  only  people 
with  peculiarities  who  have  dwelt  in  the  Place  Beautiful. 


146     NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET. 
II. 

The  founder  of  Mormonism  and  its  first 
Prophet  was  Joseph  Smith.  He  it  was  who 
built  Nauvoo,  and  he  it  was  in  obedience  to 
whom  missionaries  went  forth  to  Europe,  to 
Palestine  and  to  the  islands  of  the  sea.  To 
say  of  him  that  he  was  one  of  the  most  success- 
ful impostors  of  modern  times — probably  as 
little  self-deceived  as  any  man  that  ever  has 
lived — is  not  to  do  him  injustice.  To  say  of 
him  also  that  he  possessed  something  akin  to 
genius  in  his  comprehension  of,  and  power 
over,  a  certain  simple-minded,  usually  honest 
class  of  people,  but  superstitious  and  fanatical, 
is  merely  to  accord  him  his  due.  It  hardly  is 
a  fair  explanation  of  his  supremacy  during  the 
Nauvoo  period  to  state,  as  does  John  Hay  in 
the  Atlantic  Monthly,  that  "a  little  brains 
went  further  in  Nauvoo  than  anywhere  else 
on  earth,"  yet  the  jest  is  not  without  its  crit- 
ical value. 

As  a  youth,  Smith  has  been  described  by 
ex-Gov.  Harding,  of  Utah  Territory,  who 
often  saw  him  in  his  native  town  of  Palmyra, 
New  York.  He  was  six  feet  tall,  long-limbed, 
and  with  big  feet ;  his  hair  a  light  auburn ; 
his  eyes  large  and  of  a  bluish  gray  color; 
his  nose  prominent ;  his  face  pale  and  un- 


NAUVOO    AND   THE    PROPHET.  147 

bearded,  and  his  mouth  a  study.  The  same 
man  says  further  concerning  him  that  he  was 
a  lazy  boy;  spent  his  time  largely  in  fishing; 
rarely  smiled;  never  quarreled  or  fought;  was 
hard  on  bird's  nests ;  and  so  constitutionally 
and  inveterately  untruthful  that  in  the  town 
where  he  lived  it  was  a  common  observation 
on  any  improbable  tale  that  it  was  as  big  a 
lie  as  young  Joe  ever  told.  Nor,  seemingly, 
were  his  parents  and  his  brothers  held  in 
any  better  esteem  in  Palmyra  than  was  he. 
Mr.  Pomeroy  Tucker,  who  personally  knew 
them  all,  says  of  them  in  his  book  on  Mor- 
monism  :  "The  Smith  family  were  popularly 
regarded  as  an  illiterate,  whiskey  drinking, 
shiftless,  irreligious  race  of  people;  and,"  he 
adds,  "Joseph  was  unanimously  voted  the 
laziest  and  most  worthless  of  the  generation." 
This  statement  may  be  supplemented  by  the 
final  one,  that  a  written  declaration  of  the  un- 
truthfulness  and  viciousness  of  the  entire 
Smith  family  was,  in  1833,  made  and  signed 
by  sixty-two  of  the  best  citizens  of  Palmyra  and 
repeatedly  has  been  published.  But,  despite 
all  his  personal  and  family  drawbacks,  Smith 
forged  rapidly  to  the  front.  He  pretended 
to  be  able  to  locate  hidden  treasures  by  the 
aid  of  a  witch-hazel  rod,  and  finding  certain 
of  his  neighbors  credulous  enough  to  believe 


148      NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET. 

him,  was  emboldened  to  try  something  greater. 
One  day  he  came  into  his  father's  house  at 
the  dinner  hour  holding  a  package  concealed 
under  his  coat.  To  the  somewhat  natural 
enquiry  of  the  family  as  to  what  it  was,  he 
replied  that  it  was  a  golden  Bible.  This  reply 
meeting  with  some  favor,  he  refused  to  show 
what  he  really  had,  but  followed  up  the  ad- 
vantage gained  by  circulating  reports  as  to  his 
Bible  discovery  among  the  towns-people.  The 
sort  of  people  some  of  those  were  who,  in  the 
little  town  of  Palmyra,  and  in  the  country 
about  it,  listened  to  Smith  may  be  inferred 
from  their  behavior  when  under  religious  ex- 
citement. They  would  run  through  the  fields, 
get  upon  stumps,  preach  to  imaginary  con- 
gregations, enter  the  water;  would  make  the 
most  ridiculous  grimaces,  creep  upon  their 
hands  and  feet,  and  roll  on  the  frozen  ground. 
At  the  dead  hour  of  night,  young  men  among 
them  might  be  seen  running  over  the  fields 
and  hills  in  pursuit  of,  as  they  said,  balls  of 
fire  which  they  had  detected  moving  in  the 
atmosphere. 

Smith's  influence  over  a  mind  at  all 
superstitious — even  when  sound  in  other 
ways — is  shown  by  the  infatuation  into  which 
he  drew  his  townsman  Martin  Harris;  an 
infatuation  which  led  Harris  to  exhaust  his 


NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET.      149 

hard  earned  means  in  publishing  the  Book  of 
Mormon.  To  Harris's  believing  ears  —  as 
often  as  was  necessary  in  order  to  keep  him 
to  the  work — we  may  imagine  the  cunning 
Joseph  to  have  repeated  the  marvelous  tale  of 
how,  amid  thick  darkness,  a  pillar  of  light  had 
descended  until  it  fell  about  him  revealing 
two  personages  whose  brightness  and  glory 
defied  all  description,  one  of  whom  pointing 
to  the  other  had  said  :  "This  is  my  beloved 
son,  hear  him  !"  But  illustrations  of  Smith's 
ingenuity  and  cleverness  in  advancing  his 
own  fortunes  abound.  Thus  in  1830  he 
announced  himself  as  in  receipt  of  a  revela- 
tion consecrating  and  setting  apart  his  wife 
Emma  as  an  elect  lady.  She  was  to  be  sup- 
ported from  the  church  and  to  "let  her  soul 
delight  in  her  husband."  Thus  also  in  1836, 
in  Kirtland,  Ohio,  when  the  money  resources 
of  the  Saints  were  at  an  exceptionally  low 
ebb,  the  prophet  received  a  timely  revelation 
commanding  the  establishment  of  the  Kirt- 
land Safety  Society  anti-Banking  Company — 
an  institution  which,  after  unlawfully  putting 
in  circulation  a  large  quantity  of  bills,  was 
brought  to  a  stop  by  proceedings  in  the  courts. 
On  the  march  from  Kirtland  to  Missouri  in 
1834,  there  were  a  number  of  occurrences 
demonstrating,  not  only  the  infatuation  of 


150      NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET. 

the  Saints,  but  as  well,  their  poverty  of  humor. 
Coming  one  day  to  a  large  prehistoric  mound, 
the  prophet  ordered  it  to  be  opened.  A  little 
beneath  the  surface  the  bones  of  a  human 
skeleton  were  found.  These  the  prophet 
declared  to  be  the  remains  of  a  Lamanite 
warrior  and  chieftain  whose  name  was  Selaph, 
and  who  had  been  killed  in  the  last  struggle 
between  the  Lamanites  and  Nephites.  On 
another  occasion  a  large  black  snake  was  dis- 
covered near  the  road.  Martin  Harris,  whose 
confidence  in  the  possession  by  Joseph  and 
his  disciples  of  the  power  to  work  miracles 
was  yet  unshaken,  removed  his  shoes  and 
stockings  and,  commanding  the  reptile  not  to 
do  him  harm,  somewhat  gingerly  presented 
his  toes  to  its  head.  The  snake  remained 
quiet,  and  Harris  loudly  proclaimed  a  victory 
over  serpents.  But,  on  repeating  this  test  of 
miraculous  power  in  the  case  of  another  snake, 
he  received  a  wound  in  the  ankle.  This  was 
satisfactorily  accounted  for  by  the  prophet, 
who  imputed  to  Harris  a  weakened  faith.  It 
was  while  on  this  first  journey  westward  from 
Kirtland  that  Smith  defined  an  angel  as  "a 
tall,  slim,  well  built,  handsome  man -with  a 
bright  pillar  upon  his  head." 

On  the  advent  of  Joseph  Smith  at  the  place 
which  he  forthwith  named  Nauvoo,  and  whither 


NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET.      151 

both  he  and  his  followers  had  fled  from  real 
persecution  in  Missouri,  revelations  to  meet 
present  exigencies  and  requirements  came 
rapidly.  First  among  them  was  the  injunc- 
tion to  build  a  house  unto  the  name  of  Joseph 
— the  Nauvoo  House;  next  an  injunction  to 
build  a  house  unto  the  name  of  Joseph  for  the 
most  High  to  dwell  therein — the  Temple.  To 
defray  the  cost  of  the  latter  "the  Saints  from 
afar"  are  bidden  to  come  with  all  their  gold, 
silver,  precious  stones,  and  antiquities;  to 
bring  the  box  tree,  the  fir  tree,  and  the  pine 
tree ;  together  with  iron,  copper,  brass,  and 
zinc.  As  a  means  of  preventing  delay  in  the 
work,  the  Saints  are  told  that  only  a  speci- 
fied time  is  allowed  them  by  Jehovah  in  which 
to  finish  the  Temple  ;  after  the  expiration 
of  that  time,  their  baptisms  for  the  dead 
and  their  prayers  will  be  absolutely  unaccept- 
able. The  medium  chosen  for  getting  these 
important  revelations  before  the  people  of 
Nauvoo  was  the  semi-monthly  periodical  and 
newspaper — the  Times  and  Seasons.  The  ed- 
itor of  this  paper  more  than  once  found  it 
necessary  strongly  to  emphasize  the  penalties 
prescribed  by  Jehovah  for  neglect  of  his  com- 
mands. Thus,  in  December,  1841,  word  was 
published  that  because  of  the  sloth  and  disobe- 
dience of  certain  Saints,  grave  doubts  were 


152     NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET. 

felt  by  the  authorities  of  the  church  as  to  the 
propriety  of  any  longer  administering  to  any 
Saint  the  rite  of  baptism.  For,  it  was  con- 
vincingly argued,  if  the  whole  church  with 
her  dead  "  is  to  be  rejected  of  God  for  the 
sins  of  a  few,  she  may  as  well  be  rejected  with- 
out baptism  as  with  it."  In  the  same  issue 
containing  the  above  appeared  a  list  of  such 
offerings  and  services  as  were  in  immediate 
demand.  Among  the  offerings  named  were 
beds,  bedding,  socks,  mittens,  shoes,  clothing, 
and  provisions  of  all  kinds ;  among  the  ser- 
vices named  were  those  of  stone  cutters,  quar- 
rymen,  and  teams  and  teamsters.  In  June, 
1842,  another  appeal  had  to  be  made.  This 
time  it  was  put  in  poetic  form. 

"  Prepare  for  that  glory  the  prophets  once  saw," 
(Sang  the  editor  of  the  Times  and  Seasons.) 
"And    bring   on    your   gold    and    your   precious 

things  too, 
As  tithes  for  the  Temple  of  God  at  Nauvoo. " 

Even  this  did  not  wholly  suffice,  for  in 
August,  1844,  an  editorial  appeared  under 
the  sinister  heading,  "A  Word  to  the  Wise." 
From  it  the  fact  was  learned  that  Joseph  had 
had  a  revelation  respecting  tithing  ;  and  so  ex- 
plicit was  the  language  of  this  revelation 
"  that  he  who  ran  might  read  it  and  a  fool  need 


NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET.     153 

not  err."  The  language  in  question  was  to 
the  effect  that  the  Lord  required  of  his  Saints, 
for  the  building  of  his  House,  all  their  sur- 
plus property,  and,  after  that,  "one  tenth  of 
all  their  interest  annually." 

But  the  Times  and  Seasons  is  of  more 
interest  to  us  now  as  a  mirror  of  Mormon 
life  and  practices  in  Nauvoo  than  as  a 
medium  of  revelations.  In  its  columns  we 
find  many  things  not  wanting  in  unconscious 
humor.  For  example,  one  of  the  early  edit- 
ors (Don  Carlos  Smith)  gravely  assures  his 
readers  that  no  pains  will  be  spared  by  him 
to  make  the  paper  both  interesting  and  valu- 
able; for  through  it  he  aims  at  nothing  less 
than  the  salvation  of  the  human  family.  A 
month  later  he  gives  somewhat  in  detail  the 
plan  upon  which  he  will  work.  He  will  advo- 
cate the  doctrines  of  the  church  of  Jesus 
Christ  of  Latter  Day  Saints,  soliciting  original 
essays  of  a  nature  "  Eclectic,  Analectic,  and 
Analytic."  In  his  efforts  for  the  regenera- 
tion of  the  world,  Don  Carlos  met  with  the 
discouragements  inseparable  from  large  enter- 
prises. At  least  this  seems  fairly  to  be  infer- 
red from  such  a  remark  in  his  columns  as : 
"  Printers  like  all  other  men  live  by  eating ; 
and  in  cold  weather  fire  is  very  useful ;"  or 
from  such  a  remark  as  :  "  It  has  been  so  long 


154      NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET. 

since  we  have  had  any  honey  that  we  are  very 
certain  we  should  not  refuse  any  if  it  were 
offered  us,  especially  if  it  were  clear  and 
nice ;"  or  from  such  another  remark  as : 
"Those  of  our  subscribers  who  are  delinquent 
and  who  live  in  this  vicinity  can  bring  us,  in 
payment,  wood  or  any  kind  of  produce,  as 
these  things  are  very  necessary  in  a  family." 
As  Nauvoo  increased  in  size,  it  naturally  offered 
a  field  for  various  useful  and  ornamental  trades; 
and  it  was  also  natural  that  these  trades  should 
be  represented  in  the  Times  and  Seasons  by 
advertisements.  Among  these  advertisements 
was  the  card  of  a  tailor  announcing  the  latest 
fashions  direct  from  Philadelphia ;  the  card  of 
a  dress-maker  begging  to  inform  the  ladies  of 
Nauvoo  that  she  stood  prepared  to  render  them 
valuable  service  in  her  art,  and  further  that 
she  had  had  several  years  experience  therein 
under  a  French  modiste ;  the  card  of  a  sur- 
geon dentist  "  from  Berlin  in  Prussia,  late  of 
Liverpool  and  Preston,  England,"  who  awaited 
patronage  at  the  house  of  Brigham  Young  and 
whose  "charges  were  strictly  moderate;"  the 
card  of  a  solitary  attorney-at-law,  with  office 
near  the  Temple  ;  lastly  the  card  of  a  druggist 
and  physician  who  had  for  sale  Vancouver's 
powders  for  the  immediate  cure  of  the  fever 
and  ague  and  who  ought  to  have  had  patron- 


NAUVOO  ANt>  THE  PROPHEt.     155 

age,  if  anybody  ought,  for  in  that  part  of  Nau- 
voo  built  on  the  flat,  fever  and  ague  prevailed 
much  of  the  time.  But  doctors  were  not  popu- 
lar with  the  Saints,  we  are  editorially  in- 
formed in  the  Times  and  Seasons,  for  the  rea- 
son that  the  latter  prefer  as  a  dependence  in 
sickness  "the  commandments  of  God  to  an 
arm  of  flesh."  Poetry,  as  has  been  seen,  was 
not  an  art  despised  in  Nauvoo.  It's  leading 
devotee  was  Eliza  R.  Snow.  She  gave  the 
muse  little  rest.  She  had  something  in 
nearly  every  number  of  the  Times  and  Seasons. 
She  celebrated  in  execrable  verse  everything 
from  President  William  Henry  Harrison  to  the 
Nauvoo  Legion.  But,  bad  as  she  was,  there 
was  one  rhymster  in  Nauvoo  who  was  worse. 
This  was  Elder  Partridge,  who  one  day  in 
April,  1840,  delivered  himself  of  the  following 
concerning  the  hardships  endured  by  the  Saints 
in  Missouri : 

"  They  have  been    tarr'd,    feather'd,  and    often 

times  whip'd. 
Been  murder'd   and    plunder'd   and  robb'd, 

and  driv'n. 

Their  houses  destroy'd  till  they  have  been  strip'd 
Of  all  earthly  wealth,  but  they've  treasures  in 
heav'n." 

It    was    not    alone  by  poetizing    that   the 
Saints    manifested    an    interest    in    culture. 


156     NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET. 

They  founded  a  university.  Its  curriculum 
was  extensive,  including  arithmetic,  algebra, 
plane  and  analytical  geometry,  conic  sections, 
plane,  spherical,  and  analytical  trigonometry, 
mensuration,  surveying,  navigation,  the  dif- 
ferential and  integral  calculus,  astronomy, 
chemistry,  and  mental  philosophy.  But  more 
surprising  than  all  else  is  the  fact  that  these 
numerous  branches  of  learning  were  classed 
as  English  literature,  and  taught  by  one  man 
— Professor  Orson  Pratt.  The  tuition  of 
students  was  announced  in  the  Times  ana 
Seasons  to  be  five  dollars  per  quarter,  payable 
semi-quarterly  in  advance.  Liberal  as  was 
the  encouragement  given  by  the  church  to 
science  and  letters,  it  believed  in  rigorous- 
ness  in  respect  to  conduct.  It  dictated  to, 
anathematized,  and  excommunicated  refract- 
ory members  with  an  assumption  of  omnipo- 
tence worthy  the  best  days  of  the  Papacy. 
Thus,  on  September  28,  1841,  Elder  James 
M.  Henderson  is  ordered  by  the  Quorum  of 
Seventies  to  come  home  immediately.  On 
November  15,  1841,  it  is  unanimously  voted 
at  a  council  of  the  First  Presidency  and  of 
the  Twelve  that  John  E.  Page  return  to  Nau- 
voo  without  delay.  In  January,  1842,  Elder 
A.  Lits  is  ordered  to  come  to  Nauvoo  imme- 
diately to  answer  charges  which  may  be  pre- 


NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET.     157 

ferred  against  him ;  and  Dr.  Benjamin  Win- 
chester is  silenced  from  preaching  until  he 
makes  satisfaction  for  disobeying  the  instruc- 
tions delivered  to  him  by  the  Presidency.  In 
July,  1842,  notice  is  given  that  Dr.  Benjamin 
Winchester,  having  repented  and  recanted,  is 
restored  to  his  former  fellowship  in  the  church. 
On  November  23,  1844,  it  is  resolved  by  the 
High  Council  that  Amos  B.  Tomlinson  and 
Ebenezer  Robinson  and  wife  be  cast  off  from 
the  church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter  Day 
Saints  for  apostasy,  and  that  notice  of  the  fact 
be  published  in  the  Times  and  Seasons.  Along 
with,  yet  in  strange  contrast,  to  items  such  as 
the  foregoing,  we  read  on  January  r,  1841, 
that  "  a  late  arrival  at  New  Orleans  states  that 
in  October  past  there  was  a  French  frigate  at 
St.  Helena  to  take  the  remains  of  Napoleon 
to  France." 

But  meantime  Nauvoo  had  waxed  great, 
and  with  it  Joseph  the  prophet.  A  charter 
for  the  town  had  been  obtained  from  the 
admiring  people  of  Illinois,  under  which  the 
municipality  was  almost  independent  of  the 
state.  The  formation  of  the  Nauvoo  Legion 
had  been  authorized,  and  the  prophet  had 
been  commissioned  its  Lieutenant-General, 
and  John  C.  Bennet,  at  that  time  the  prophet's 
main  dependence,  its  Major-General.  Letters 


158      NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET. 

mailed  at  Nauvoo  bore  the  proud  address, 
The  City  of  Joseph.  The  New  York  Herald 
called  Smith  the  Western  Mahomet,  the 
Prophet  of  America.  Besides  the  land  bought 
in  Illinois  for  the  site  of  Nauvoo,  several  thou- 
sand acres  had  been  bought  or  contracted  for 
by  the  Saints  near  the  village  of  Keokuk  in 
Iowa.  In  a  word,  preparations  for  the  found- 
ing of  something  like  a  Mormon  Empire  on 
the  banks  of  the  Mississippi  were  well  ad- 
vanced. The  vital  importance,  in  state  and 
congressional  elections,  of  the  three  thousand 
Mormon  votes  of  Nauvoo  and  vicinity,  which 
were  always  cast  as  the  prophet  directed,  had 
come  to  be  recognized  by  candidates ;  and 
political  parties  vied  with  each  other  in  bid- 
ding for  the  prophet's  favor.  On  the  one 
hand,  he  was  assiduously  courted  by  Douglas 
and  the  democrats;  while,  on  the  other,  Lin- 
coln sent  him  pamphlets  and  strove  to  attach 
him  to  the  whigs.  Douglas,  however,  was  in 
a  position  to  render  him  the  most  aid,  and 
hence  was  most  to  his  mind.  He  pronounced 
him  a  master  spirit.  In  1839  Smith  had  gone 
to  Washington  to  see  President  Van  Buren 
concerning  the  outrages  perpetrated  on  the 
Mormons  by  the  Missourians,  but  had  got  no 
satisfaction.  Accordingly,  when  the  presiden- 
tial election  of  1844  was  approaching,  he 


NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET.      159 

made  it  his  business  to  sound  the  different 
candidates  for  their  views  on  the  Mormon 
question.  He  wrote  to  John  C.  Calhoun, 
Lewis  Cass,  Richard  M.  Johnson,  Henry  Clay, 
and  Martin  Van  Buren.  Calhoun  and  Clay 
courteously  responded,  but  intimated  the  im- 
propriety in  their  formulating  definitive  views 
on  the  question  at  that  time.  Smith's  replies 
to  these  gentlemen  are  curiosities  in  epistolary 
composition.  In  the  one  to  Calhoun  this 
characteristic  passage  is  found :  "  While  I 
have  power  of  body  and  mind — while  water 
runs  and  grass  grows — while  virtue  is  lovely 
and  vice  hateful — and  while  a  stone  points 
out  a  spot  where  a  fragment  of  American 
liberty  once  was,  I  or  my  posterity  will  plead 
the  cause  of  injured  innocence,  until  Missouri 
makes  atonement  for  all  her  sins,  or  sinks  dis- 
graced, degraded,  and  damned  to  hell,  where 
the  worm  dieth  not  and  the  fire  is  not 
quenched."  The  letter  in  reply  to  Clay  is 
addressed  to  "that  great  plenipotentiary,  the 
renowned  secretary  of  state,  the  ignoble  duel- 
ist, the  gambling  senator,  and  the  whig  can- 
didate for  the  presidency,  Henry  Clay." 

Disgusted  with  his  appeals  for  light  from  the 
various  presidential  candidates,  the  prophet 
resolved  to  test  the  feelings  of  the  American 
people  by  running  for  the  presidency  himself. 


l6o      NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET. 

"Who  shall  be  our  next  president?"  defiantly 
asked  the  Times  and  Seasons  of  February  i, 
1844.  "We  have  our  eye  on  the  man;  we 
shall  notify  our  friends  in  due  time,  and  when 
we  do  we  shall  take  a  long  pull,  a  strong  pull, 
and  a  pull  altogether."  On  March  i,  1844, 
this  intimation  was  followed  by  the  announce- 
ment, in  big  type  :  "  For  President,  General 
Joseph  Smith,  Nauvoo,  Illinois."  Later  (on 
May  1 7th)  some  sort  of  a  national  convention 
was  got  together  in  Nauvoo,  and  Joseph  put 
in  formal  nomination  before  the  country. 

As  the  prophet  increased  in  years  and  good 
fortune  a  corresponding  elation  was  percep- 
tible in  his  manner.  In  public  discourse  he 
was  easy  and  complacent,  seeming  to  feel  the 
importance  of  his  position ;  in  private  talk  he 
was,  in  general,  agreeable,  but,  if  opposed, 
was  apt  to  be  loud  and  truculent.  A  man 
who  on  one  occasion  chanced  to  be  on  the 
Mississippi  steamboat  which  the  Mormons 
owned  and  navigated  encountered  Smith 
among  the  passengers,,  and  heard  his  con- 
verse. He  afterwards  said  of  him  :  "  In  his 
repeated  treatment  of  those  who  did  not 
acknowledge  his  pretensions,  he  exemplified 
an  assertion  of  his  own,  namely,  that  in  order 
to  get  through  the  world  to  the  best  advan- 
tage, he  had  learned  to  browbeat  his  way." 


NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET.      l6l 

Many  stories  are  told  concerning  his  skill  and 
invincibility  as  an  athlete.  Says  the  ex-Utah 
Congressional  delegate,  George  Q.  Cannon : 
"On  Saturday,  the  28th  day  of  January,  1843, 
the  prophet  played  a  fine  game  of  ball  at 
Nauvoo  with  his  brethren.  On  Monday,  the 
1 3th  day  of  March,  1843,  ne  met  William 
Wall,  a  most  expert  wrestler  of  Ram  us,  Illinois, 
and  had  a  friendly  bout  with  him.  He  easily 
conquered  Wall,  who  up  to  that  time  had  been 
a  champion.  About  the  same  time  he  had  a 
contest  at  pulling  sticks  with  Justus  A.  Morse, 
reputed  to  be  the  strongest  man  in  the  region. 
The  prophet  used  but  one  hand  and  easily 
defeated  Morse."  His  aplomb,  under  almost 
any  circumstances,  was  astonishing.  Thus, 
on  being  asked  by  an  English  traveler  which 
of  the  Trinity  had  appeared  to  him  on  the 
occasion  of  the  first  revelation,  he  at  once 
replied :  "  It  was  the  Father,  with  the  Son 
on  his  right  hand,  and  he  said  :  '  I  am  the 
Father,  and  this  Being  on  my  right  hand  is 
my  Son,  Jesus  Christ.'"  Again,  in  preaching 
on  one  occasion,  he  made  the  statement  that 
baptism  was  essential  to  salvation.  "  Stop  ! " 
cried  a  Methodist  clergyman  who  was  among 
the  listeners,  "What  do  you  say  to  the  case 
of  the  penitent  thief  ?  You  know  our  Savior 
said  to  the  thief :  '  This  day  shalt  thou  be 


1 62      NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET. 

with  me  in  Paradise,'  which  shows  that  he 
could  not  have  been  baptized  before  his 
admission."  "How  do  you  know,"  quickly 
retorted  Smith,  "that  he  wasn't  baptized 
before  he  became  a  thief  ?  But,"  continued 
he,  frowning  down  the  merriment  which  his 
sally  had  excited,  "  this  is  not  the  true  answer. 
In  the  original  Greek  the  word  that  has  been 
translated  paradise  means  simply  a  place  of 
departed  spirits.  To  that  place  the  penitent 
thief  was  conveyed,  and  there  doubtlessly  he 
received  the  baptism  necessary  for  his 
admission  to  the  heavenly  kingdom."  That 
in  his  relations  to  the  women  of  Nauvoo  there 
was  much  freedom  seems  to  be  established  by 
a  great  variety  of  proof.  Stenhouse,  the  apos- 
tate Mormon  author,  writing  in  1870,  says: 
"There  are  now  probably  about  a  dozen  sis- 
ters in  Utah  who  proudly  acknowledge  them- 
selves to  be  the  wives  of  Joseph ;  and  how 
many  others  there  may  have  been  who  held 
that  relationship  no  man  knoweth."  In  per- 
son, at  this  period,  Smith  had  grown  fat ;  he 
displayed  a  taste  for  jewelry ;  and  his  glance 
is  said  to  have  been  furtive  and  hard  to  fix. 
But  Josiah  Quincy,  of  Massachusetts,  who 
met  him  shortly  before  his  assassination,  says 
that  he  was  a  fine  looking  man,  and  that  "one 
could  not  resist  the  impression  that  capacity 


NAUVOO    AND    THE    PROPHET.  163 

and  resource  were  natural  to  his  stalwart  per- 
son." Summing  up  his  career  to  the  time 
when  he  became  a  presidential  candidate, 
Stenhouse  says :  "  The  poor  farm  laborer 
merges  in  the  preacher ;  the  preacher  becomes 
a  translator,  a  prophet,  a  seer,  a  revelator,  a 
banker,  an  editor,  a  mayor,  a  lieutenant-gen- 
eral, a  candidate  for  the  presidency  of  the 
world's  greatest  republic;  and,  last  of  all, 
though  not  the  least  difficult  of  his  achieve- 
ments, he  becomes  the  husband  of  many  wives." 
Polygamy  was  not  an  avowed  institution 
among  the  Mormons  until  the  Utah  period. 
Its  origin  among  them  as  a  practice,  and 
also,  secretly,  as  a  doctrine,  was  in  the  years 
spent  in  Nauvoo.  The  steps  in  its  develop- 
ment were  substantially  as  follows  :  Certain 
elders  who  were  regretting  that  their  union 
with  their  wives,  in  whom  they  had  chanced 
to  be  exceptionally  fortunate,  would  termi- 
nate with  the  present  life,  conceived  the 
novel  idea  of  being  remarried  for  eternity. 
A  ceremony  to  this  end  accordingly  was 
performed.  Thereupon  certain  other  elders, 
whose  conjugal  relations  were  not  so  satis- 
factory, suggested  that  they  be  permitted 
to  lighten  their  burden  by  contracting 
with  some  of  their  sisters  in  the  faith,  more 
congenial  to  them  than  their  wives,  an  alliance 


164      NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET. 

actually  to  be  enjoyed  only  in  the  world 
to  come,  but  prospectively  to  be  enjoyed 
here.  No  objection  being  made  to  this 
proposal,  it  was  carried  out.  In  the  words  of 
Joseph  Smith,  Jr.,  "  spiritual  affinities  were 
sought  after  ;  the  hitherto  sacred  precincts  of 
home  were  invaded  ;  less  and  less  restraint 
was  exercised  ;  the  lines  between  virtue  and 
license,  before  sharply  drawn,  grew  more  and 
more  indistinct.  Spiritual  companionship  for 
the  world  to  come,  deriving  its  sanction  from 
an  earthly  priesthood,  might  (it  was  thought) 
under  the  same  sanction,  be  antedated  and 
put  to  actual  test  here ;  ....  a  wife  in  fact 
was  supplemented  by  one  in  spirit  who  in 
easy  transition  became  one  in  fact  also. 

Some  examples  of  the  working  of  this 
doctrine  of  plurality  among  the  Saints  are 
given  by  Mrs.  Emily  M.  Austin.  Mrs.  Austin 
was  a  respectable  woman  who  joined  the 
Mormons  before  their  removal  to  Missouri. 
She  afterwards  lived  much  in  Nauvoo,  taught 
school  there,  and  became  well  known.  She 
did  not  go  to  Utah,  and  only  recently 
has  died.  She  has  left  a  small  book 
(comparatively  scarce)  entitled  "  Life  Among 
the  Mormons,"  in  which  she  speaks  from  a 
knowledge  personal  and  direct.  "A  note 
was  sent  to  me  [one  day],"  she  says  in 


NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET.      165 

this  book,  "  desiring  my  attendance  at  a 
wedding  at  Deacon  Levey's.  I  at  once  be- 
gan to  question  who  it  could  be.  There  was 
no  one  in  Deacon  Levey's  family  who  was  old 
enough  to  marry,  thought  I.  However,  I 
attended  at  the  hour  appointed,  and  when  the 
parties  advanced,  it  [sic]  was  Deacon  Lovey 
himself,  leading  an  old  maid  by  the  name  of 
Elmyra  Mack.  I  was  more  astonished  now 
than  I  ever  was.  There  sat  his  other  wife 
looking  perfectly  happy.  The  ceremony  was 
said,  after  which  a  lively  time  ensued,  and  all 
seemed  joyous  and  full  of  merriment."  Else- 
where in  her  book  she  says  :  "[On  one  occa- 
sion], while  I  stopped  a  few  moments  in  con- 
versation with  Mrs.  S ,  her  husband  rode 

up  in  a  splendid  carriage  and  asked  if  I  would 
not  ride,  as  he  was  going  on  business  the  way 
I  was  to  return.  I  accepted  the  offer,  and  on 
our  way  he  asked  if  I  had  tried  to  inform 
myself  of  the  great  work  which  was  enjoined 
upon  us  as  God's  children  ?  I  told  him  I 
knew  of  nothing  but  to  serve  God  with  an 
honest  and  upright  heart.  '  This  is  not  all,' 
he  said  ;  '  God's  work  is  progressive,  ever  on- 
ward. As  his  children  grow  more  numerous 
their  wants  increase.  He  does  for  us  all  we 
wish  or  desire,  if  we  trust  in  Him.  He  has 
promised  us  all  things,  if  we  live  faithful  to 


1 66      NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET. 

Him.  And  now,  since  these  promises  are  left 
us  for  our  benefit,  why  not  accept  ? '  '  Accept 
what  ? '  I  asked.  '  Accept  and  obey  God's 
command,'  he  replied,  'which  He  has  given 
through  His  servant  Joseph  ;  that  is,  a  man 
can  have  all  the  wives  he  can  get,  if  he  marries 
them  for  time  and  eternity  ;  that  is,  if  he  takes 
care  of  them  in  time,  they  will  also  be  his  in 
eternity  ;  for  the  glory  of  man  is  the  woman ; 
the  more  women  he  has  the  more  glory  will 
crown  him  in  heaven.  And  now,  if  when  you 
consider  this  properly,  you  think  it  better  to 
have  one  who  will  provide  for  and  protect  you, 
let  me  know  your  mind,  and  all  will  be 
well.'" 

But  although  the  prophet  (to  recur  to  Sten- 
house's  graphic  phrase),  in  addition  to  being 
a  candidate  for  the  presidency,  had  achieved 
the  glory  of  becoming  the  husband  of  many 
wives,  foes  were  at  work  against  him  ;  foes 
among  the  Saints  and  foes  among  the  gentiles. 
Trouble,  the  result  of  rivalry,  long  since  had 
broken  out  between  him  and  his  lieutenant 
John  C.  Bennett,  and  Bennett  had  gone  to 
the  East.  Certain  influential  persons  (among 
them  William  Law,  Wilson  Law,  and 
Dr.  R.  D.  Foster)  had  been  cut  off  from 
the  church,  and  were  bitterly  hostile. 
Among  the  gentiles  a  long-brewing  fear 


NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET.      167 

and  dislike  of  the  Mormons,  engendered 
by  political  and  other  causes,  was  manifesting 
itself.  Into  the  midst  of  all  this  came,  as  a 
spark  to  a  magazine  of  powder,  the  Expositor 
incident  of  June  yth,  1845.  The  Laws  and 
others  had  established  a  newspaper  called 
the  Nauvoo  Expositor.  It  professed  belief  in 
the  Mormon  doctrines,  but  repudiated  the 
claims  of  Smith.  As  a  vulnerable  point  in 
Smith's  character,  it  assailed  his  chastity. 
Thereupon  the  excitement  in  Nauvoo  was 
tremendous.  The  city  council,  under  the 
lead  of  the  prophet,  met  and,  after  much 
inflammatory  talk,  voted  the  Expositor  and  its 
office  a  public  nuisance  and  ordered  them 
abated.  This  order  not  being  complied  with 
by  the  proprietors,  the  press  and  type  of  the 
paper  were  pitched  into  the  street  by  the 
prophet's  deputies  and  destroyed.  Following 
upon  this,  came  the  arrest  of  Smith  and  his 
brother  Hyrum  by  a  constable  of  the  county, 
and  their  prompt  release  under  a  writ  of 
habeas  corpus  issued  by  the  Nauvoo  municipal 
council.  Such  a  direct  defiance  of  the  author- 
ity of  the  state  by  the  Mormons,  as  was  the 
delivery  under  this  writ,  roused  great  resent- 
ment among  the  gentiles.  "Citizens!"  ex- 
claimed the  Warsaw  Signal,  anent  the  occur- 
rence, "arise,  one  and  all!  ...  We  have  no 


1 68      NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET. 

time  for  comment :  every  man  will  make  his 
own.  Let  it  be  made  with  powder  and  ball !" 
Governor  Ford  was  appealed  to.  He  came 
to  Carthage,  the  county  seat,  made  a  show  of 
military  force,  and  the  two  Smiths,  after  some 
negotiations,  surrendered  themselves  into  the 
Governor's  hands  and  were  lodged  in  the 
Carthage  jail.  Meanwhile  armed  bands  were 
congregating  at  several  points  in  anticipation 
of  orders  to  attack  Nauvoo.  The  Mormon 
leaders  having  given  themselves  up,  these 
bands  were  now  directed  by  the  governor  to 
disperse.  Many  of  them  did  so  ;  others  were 
not  thus  to  be  cheated  of  their  prey.  On 
June  27th,  in  the  governor's  absence  at 
Nauvoo  whither  he  had  gone  to  make  an 
address  to  the  citizens,  a  mob  collected  from 
the  direction  of  Warsaw.  Rolling  into  Carth- 
age, it  made  straight  for  the  jail,  put  aside 
the  feeble  guard  it  found  there,  and  rushed 
towards  the  room  on  the  upper  floor  in  which 
were  confined  Joseph  and  Hyrum  Smith. 
They  heard  the  mob  coming  and  threw  their 
bodies  against  the  door  to  bar  ingress.  Several 
shots  were  fired  by  the  mob  through  the  door 
panels  ;  the  door  itself  was  then  burst  open 
and  more  shots  fired.  One  of  them  killed 
Hyrum  Smith.  The  prophet  was  not  so 
easily  disposed  of.  He  stood  by  the  door 


NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET.     169 

jamb  and  returned  the  fire.  He  fired  four 
shots  and  at  each  a  man  went  down.  Then, 
wounded  and  bewildered,  he  rushed  to  a 
window  in  the  room  which  had  been  opened 
to  admit  the  soft  June  air,  and  half  leaped, 
half  fell,  into  the  yard  below.  Here,  while 
gathering  himself  into  a  sitting  posture 
against  the  well  curb,  a  squad  of  his  old 
enemies,  the  Missourians,  which  was  standing 
by,  discharged  their  pieces  at  him  and  he 
dropped  back  dead. 

III. 

The  death  of  Joseph  Smith  was  the  begin- 
ning of  the  end  of  Mormonism  in  Nauvoo. 
He  was  succeeded,  it  is  true,  by  Brigham 
Young,  but  the  glory  of  Zion  was  grown  dim. 
The  times  were  troubled.  In  the  church 
there  were  dissensions ;  in  both  the  church  and 
the  town  there  was  lawlessness.  Horse  steal- 
ing, grave  robbing,  and  other  forms  of  theft 
were  frequently  practiced.  So  fearful  were 
the  family  of  Joseph  that  the  remains  of  the 
prophet  and  his  brother  would  be  stolen, 
if  the  place  of  their  burial  were  known,  that 
a  deception  was  practiced  at  the  funeral.  The 
caskets,  when  borne  from  the  Mansion  House, 
did  not  contain  the  dead.  In  the  room  of 
the  bodies  bags  of  sand  had  been  put ;  and 


I7O     NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET. 

the  caskets  thus  filled  were  deposited  in  a 
double  vault,  which  had  been  excavated  in 
the  hill  side  some  two  hundred  feet  south  of 
the  Temple.  This  vault  was  encased  by  stone 
walls  and  closed  by  iron  doors.  The  bodies 
themselves  were  secretly  buried  at  night  by 
Emma  Smith,  the  prophet's  wife.  Where  they 
were  buried  no  one  but  she  and  her  sons 
knew  then  ;  and  no  one  but  the  two  sons  who 
survive  her,  Joseph  and  Alexander,  know  now. 
Besides  theft,  offenses  against  society  in 
and  about  Nauvoo  of  a  much  darker  sort 
marked  the  year  immediately  following  the 
prophet's  death.  There  were  bold  robberies 
and  still  bolder  assassinations.  From  the 
time  of  the  trouble  in  Missouri  a  secret  organ- 
ization was  thought  to  have  existed  among 
the  Saints,  called  the  Sons  of  Dan  or  Danites. 
Certain  early  Mormon  apostates  had  made 
oath,  before  a  Congressional  investigating 
committee,  to  the  existence  of  such  a  society. 
Its  object,  they  had  said,  was  to  drive  out  dis- 
senters from  the  church.  If  any,  on  being 
notified  to  go,  refused,  they  were  secretly  put 
to  death.  Nehemiah  Odell,  who  had  been 
examined  before  the  Congressional  com- 
mittee, had  said  that  he  was  present  on 
one  occasion  during  the  war  with  the  Missou- 
rians,  when  a  company  of  the  Danites  received 


NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET.     171 

t-he  following  somewhat  remarkable  command 
from  their  Captain  :  "  In  the  name  of  Laza- 
rus, God,  and  the  Lamb,  fire !  Danites." 

To  the  Mormons — especially  as  represented 
in  the  Danite  Band— it  has  been  the  habit  to 
ascribe  the  perpetration  of  the  thefts,  rob- 
beries, and  murders  which  were  now  plaguing 
the  vicinity  of  Nauvoo.  That  any  such  organ- 
ization as  this  was  at  all  active,  or  even  ex- 
isted, among  the  Mormons  during  the  Nauvoo 
period,  there  is  virtually  no  proof.  That  such 
an  organization  had  existed,  and  that  it  was 
revived  in  Utah,  is  a  different  proposition. 
The  most  reasonable  explanation  of  the  Nau- 
voo outrages  would  seem  to  be  that  they 
came  of  general  border  lawlessness.  The 
suspicion  which  the  Saints  and  gentiles  had 
come  to  entertain  of  each  other  gave  the  Mis- 
sissippi river  outlaw  bands  an  excellent  chance 
to  make  use  of  Nauvoo  as  a  place  of  refuge. 
By  professing  Mormon  views,  they  at  once, 
when  charged  with  misdemeanors  or  crimes, 
were  able  to  raise  in  the  minds  of  the  Saints 
a  presumption  that  they  were  being  maligned 
and  persecuted  ;  hence  they  were  given  pro  - 
tection.  But  be  the  explanation  what  it  may, 
the  offenses  were  committed  and  'the  Mor- 
mons held  responsible  for  them.  So  common 
a  practice  had  horse  stealing  become  that  the 


172     NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET. 

river  crossing  between  Nauvoo  and  Montrose 
was  widely  known  as  the  "thieves'  ferry."  It 
had  even  a  more  sinister  reputation :  tales 
were  told  of  how  the  Danites,  mounted  on 
fleet  horses,  would  seize  men  against  whom 
death  had  been  decreed  by  their  organization, 
strap  them  behind  them,  be  ferried  to  the 
centre  of  the  stream,  and  there  cut  out  the 
entrails  of  their  victims  and  sink  their  bodies 
in  the  water.  People  on  both  sides  of  the 
Mississippi  lived  in  constant  dread,  hardly 
daring  to  unbar  their  doors  after  nightfall. 

In  May,  1845,  a  German  family  in  Lee 
county,  Iowa,  (the  county  in  which  is  the  vil- 
lage of  Montrose)  was  murdered  in  a  manner 
exceptionally  brutal.  The  murderers,  the 
Hodge  brothers,  were  tracked  to  Nauvoo  by 
Edward  Bonney,  and  discovered  to  be  liv- 
ing in  a  remote  part  of  the  town.  Their 
house  was  surrounded,  they  were  captured, 
and,  after  a  trial  and  conviction,  hanged 
Bonney  was  a  remarkable  character.  He  kept 
a  livery  stable  in  Montrose,  traveled  much  on 
the  river,  and  knew  many  of  the  members  of 
the  outlaw  bands.  He  has  been  charged  with 
having  been  an  outlaw  himself,  but  upon  no 
satisfactory  evidence.  On  the  contrary,  he 
was  the  means  of  bringing  to  justice  some  of 
the  most  noted  desperadoes  of  the  river  coun- 


NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET.      173 

try.  During  the  trial  of  the  Hodges  great 
efforts  were  made  by  one  of  their  family  to 
enlist  the  interest  of  Brigham  Young  in  their 
behalf,  but  without  result.  On  another  occa- 
sion, it  is  said,  an  attempt  was  made  in  ad- 
vance by  the  outlaws  to  gain  the  countenance 
of  Brigham  for  a  criminal  project.  It  was 
proposed  (so  the  story  goes)  by  a  certain  in- 
fluential Saint  of  Nauvoo  quietly  to  rob  the 
chest  of  a  merchant  of  that  town.  But  the 
merchant  chanced  also  to  be  a  Saint.  Now, 
while  Saint  number  one  had  no  conscientious 
scruples  against  robbery  in  general,  he  had 
qualms  as  to  the  propriety  of  one  Saint  rob- 
bing another.  He  therefore  sought  guidance 
from  the  head  of  the  church.  What  Brig- 
ham's  council  on  this  delicate  question  was 
is  not  known ;  but  when  he  who  sought  it 
would  have  carried  into  effect  his  original  de- 
sign, he  found  Saint  number  two,  gun  in 
hand,  serenely  awaiting  him. 

One  of  the  most  celebrated  cases  of  mur- 
der attributed  to  the  Mormons  was  that  of 
Colonel  George  Davenport.  Colonel  Daven- 
port was  by  birth  an  Englishman,  but,  coming 
to  America,  had  served  this  country  as  a  sol- 
dier in  the  war  of  1812.  He  had  seen  many 
adventures  both  by  land  and  water,  and  in 
Indian  times  had  been  a  highly  esteemed 


174      NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET. 

friend  of  the  old  chief  Black  Hawk.  He  now 
(1845)  was  living  in  a  substantial,  and,  for 
the  times,  elegant  mansion  on  the  island  of 
Rock  Island  in  the  Mississippi  river,  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  miles  above  Nauvoo.  About 
his  dwelling  towered  lofty  old  oaks  ;  while 
before  it,  along  the  margin  of  a  beautiful 
greensward,  hastened  the  great  stream.  On 
the  fourth  of  July,  1845,  Colonel  Davenport 
was  sitting  in  his  parlor  reading.  His  family 
were  away  at  a  picnic  gathering.  Hearing  a 
slight  noise  at  the  rear  of  the  house,  he 
stepped  into  the  hall  to  investigate  its  cause. 
Here  he  was  confronted  by  three  men.  One 
of  the  three  discharged  a  pistol  at  him,  the 
ball  taking  effect  in  his  thigh.  He  was  then 
seized,  thrown  down,  bound  with  strips  of 
hickory  bark,  and  blindfolded.  Next  he  was 
dragged  by  his  collar  and  long  gray  hair  up 
the  broad  stairway  of  his  mansion  to  an  upper 
room  containing  a  closet  in  which,  in  an  iron 
safe,  were  his  money  and  valuables.  This  safe 
the  robbers  forced  him  to  open.  After  secur- 
ing its  contents,  chiefly  money,  they  placed 
their  victim,  now  weak  from  loss  of  blood,  on 
a  bed  there  was  in  the  room,  and  demanded 
more  money.  The  Colonel  pointed  to  a 
drawer  in  his  dressing  table.  The  robbers 
opened  a  wrong  one  by  mistake,  and,  think- 


NAUVOO    AND    THE    PROPHET.  175 

ing  they  had  been  deceived,  choked  their  vic- 
tim till  he  fainted.  This  they  did  twice, 
reviving  him  each  time  by  forcing  water  into 
his  mouth  and  by  dashing  it  in  his  face.  On 
his  fainting  a  third  time,  they  fled.  Colonel 
Davenport  died  from  the  effect  of  his  wounds 
on  the  day  following  the  robbery.  To-day, 
many  years  after  this  tragedy  and  after  the 
Federal  Government  has  purchased  Rock 
Island  and  made  it  the  site  of  a  great  arsenal, 
the  mansion  of  Colonel  Davenport  stands 
solitary  and  abandoned  on  the  banks  of  the 
Mississippi.  For  a  long  time  the  floor  of  the 
hall,  the  steps  of  the  stair-case,  and  the  floor 
of  the  room  in  which  the  Colonel  died,  all 
deeply  blood-stained,  were  shown  to  travelers. 
The  plastering  from  the  walls  and  ceiling  has 
now  so  fallen  upon  and  covered  both  steps 
and  floors  that  any  traces  of  blood,  if  they 
exist,  are  hidden  from  sight.  But  to  con- 
tinue :  The  perpetrators  of  this  robbery 
and  murder  were  ferreted  out  by  Bonney, 
after  some  detective  work  of  which  the  pur- 
suers of  Jean  Valjean  would  not  have  been 
ashamed,  and,  with  one  exception,  brought 
to  trial.  One  of  them — Birch — turned  state's 
evidence  and  made  a  confession.  In  this 
confession,  among  other  things,  he  said : 
"The  first  council  for  arranging  the  robbery 


176  NAUVOO    AND   THE    PROPHET. 

of    Colonel  Davenport    was  held  in    Joseph 
Smith's  old  council  chamber  in  Nauvoo." 

The  effect  of  occurrences  such  as  have  just 
been  described,  and  of  statements  like  this  one 
by  Birch,  upon  the  already  prejudiced  and 
excited  minds  of  the  anti-Mormons  or  gentiles, 
can  well  be  imagined.  On  the  ist  of  October, 
1845,  a  convention  of  delegates  from  nine  of 
the  counties  adjacent  to  Hancock  county  (the 
one  in  which  Nauvoo  is  situated)  assembled 
at  Carthage  and  passed  a  resolution  that  "  it 
is  now  too  late  to  attempt  a  settlement  of  the 
present  difficulties  upon  any  other  basis  than 
that  of  the  removal  of  the  Mormons  from  the 
State."  On  the  same  day  a  written  promise 
that  the  Mormons  would  leave  the  state,  as 
fast  as  they  could  sell  their  property  and 
make  other  necessary  arrangements,  was 
signed  by  Brigham  Young  and  put  in  the 
hands  of  a  committee  appointed  by  Governor 
Ford  to  confer  with  the  Mormon  leaders. 
Among  the  members  of  this  committee  was 
Stephen  A.  Douglas.  Preparations  for  de- 
parture by  the  Mormons  were  rapidly  pushed 
forward.  On  November  i5th,  the  Times  and 
Seasons  made  announcement  that  fifteen  or 
twenty  thousand  persons  were  preparing  for 
exodus  in  the  coming  spring.  It  also  an- 
nounced that  the  number  of  families  repre- 


NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET.      177 

sented  in  this  aggregate  of  persons  was  thirty- 
two  hundred  and  eighty-five,  and  that  for 
their  transportation  there  were  fifteen  hundred 
and  eight  wagons  on  hand  and  eighteen  hun- 
dred and  ninety-two  in  process  of  manufac- 
ture. The  concluding  words  of  the  announce- 
ment (aimed  at  the  gentiles)  were:  "O! 
Generation  of  Vipers!"  On  January  20,  1846, 
a  circular  to  the  Saints  was  issued  by  the 
High  Council.  It  stated  that  early  in  March 
a  company  of  pioneers  would  be  sent  West  to 
find  some  fertile  valley  near  the  Rocky  moun- 
tains where  crops  could  be  planted  and  cabins 
built  for  the  sustenance  and  protection  of  the 
whole  body  of  the  Mormon  people  until  a 
place  of  permanent  abiding  should  be  deter- 
mined upon.  The  circular  stated  further, 
that  should  trouble  arise  with  any  foreign 
power  over  the  Oregon  question,  the  Mor- 
mons, despite  their  wrongs  which  they  keenly 
felt,  would  at  least  render  the  American  gov- 
ernment services  as  great  as  those  on  a  cer- 
tain occasion  rendered  by  a  conscientious 
Quaker  to  the  crew  of  a  merchant  ship 
attacked  by  pirates.  The  pirates  were  in  the 
act  of  boarding  when  one  of  their  number  fell 
into  the  water.  As  he  was  fast  ascending  the 
side  of  the  merchantman,  by  means  of  a  rope 
which  was  hanging  over,  he  chanced  to  be 


178  NAUVOO    AND    THE    PROPHET. 

spied  by  the  conscientious  Quaker.  "  Friend," 
said  the  Quaker,  "  if  thee  wants  that  piece  of 
rope,  I  will  help  thee  to  it,"  and  severed  it 
with  his  jack-knife.  "  Much  of  our  property," 
continued  the  circular,  "  will  be  left  in  the 
hands  of  competent  agents  for  sale,  at  a  low 
rate,  for  teams,  for  goods,  and  for  cash.  The 
funds  arising  from  the  sale  of  property  will  be 
applied  to  the  removal,  from  time  to  time,  of 
families  ;  and  it  now  remains  to  be  proved 
whether  those  of  our  families  and  friends  who 
are  necessarily  left  behind  for  a  season  shall 
be  mobbed  and  driven  away  by  force."  The 
circular  emphatically  denied  that  the  Mormons 
ever  had  cut  out  the  bowels  of  any  person  or 
fed  him  to  the  cat-fish.  The  programme  of 
departure,  as  laid  down  in  the  circular,  was 
not  adhered  to  as  to  the  time  of  starting,  for 
the  first  company  of  Exiles  crossed  the  Mis- 
sissippi river  on  the  ice  on  February  5th. 
During  the  month  twelve  hundred  wagons 
crossed.  By  the  middle  of  May  sixteen  thou- 
sand persons  had  passed  into  Iowa  and  were 
filing  towards  the  Missouri  at  a  point  where 
now  is  the  city  of  Council  Bluffs. 

But  meanwhile  work  upon  the  Temple  had 
not  been  suspended.  Its  exterior  for  some 
time  had  been  finished,  but  within  much  still 
remained  to  be  done.  As  early  as  October  5, 


NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET.      179 

1845,  tne  windows  were   in,  also  temporary 
floors,  seats,  and  pulpits  ;  and  a  congregation 
of  some  five  thousand  had  been  present  at  an 
informal    service.     By    the    last    of   January, 

1846,  the  Temple  was  as  nearly  completed  as 
it  ever  became.     At  either  end  of  the  main 
assembly  room,  which  occupied  the  first  floor, 
were  the  pulpits    for   the    four    priesthoods, 
one  above  another  according  to  rank  ;    the 
lowest  for   the   President  of  the  Elders  and 
his  two  counsellors ;  the  next  for  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  High    Priesthood    and    his   two 
counsellors  ;  the  third  for  the  President  of  the 
Melchisedeck   (Aaronic)  Priesthood   and  his 
two  counsellors  ;  the  fourth  and  highest,  for 
the  President  of  the  whole  church  and  his  two 
counsellors.      The  last  pulpit  the  Mormons 
held  in  the  profoundest  reverence  as  a  repre- 
sentation of  Moses'  seat  into  which  used  to 
crowd  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees.    Beneath  the 
main  assembly  room  was  the  basement  and  in 
it  the  great  Baptismal- fount — a  tank  twenty 
feet  square,  supported  upon  twelve  stone  oxen, 
and  ascended  by  a  flight  of  steps.     Above  the 
main  assembly  room  was  an   upper   assem- 
bly room,  and  beneath  and  above  this,  in  the 
recesses  of  the  structure,  were  some  small  office 
rooms.     There  was  also  an  attic  story  contain- 
ing a  suite  of   apartments  for  the  use  of   the 


180     NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET. 

President  in  the  ordinances  of  washings,  an- 
nointings,  and  prayer.  Of  these  different 
rooms  none  were  wholly  finished  except  per- 
haps the  main  assembly  room.  In  the  second 
story  the  floor  was  not  even  laid.  Surround- 
ing the  Temple  square  a  trench  had  been  dug, 
some  six  feet  wide  and  deep,  which  was  to  have 
been  filled  with  masonry  as  a  base  for  a  heavy 
iron  fence.  The  massive  walls  of  the  Temple 
with  their  two  tiers  of  round  windows,  and  the 
environing  trench  which  had  been  excavated, 
were  but  confirmatory  proof  to  the  gentiles  of 
the  sinister  purposes  of  the  Mormons.  One 
suspicious  gentile  thought  the  Temple  imper- 
vious to  the  heaviest  artillery  ;  its  round  win- 
dows port  holes  ;  and  the  trench  a  foundation 
step  in  the  erection  of  a  massive  stone  out- 
work ten  feet  high.  It  was  hatred  by  the 
gentiles  that  forced  the  Mormon  artisan,  as  he 
wrought  at  his  task  during  the  time  of  the 
Exodus,  (for  the  Temple  must  be  completed 
according  to  the  command  of  the  Lord)  to 
place  weapons  at  his  side,  while  watch  and 
ward  were  kept  from  the  Temple  roof. 

That  the  Temple  ever  was  dedicated  with 
any  other  ceremony  than  that  of  a  prayer  by 
Brigham  Young  on  the  occasion  of  the  meet- 
ing in  it  of  the  five  thousand  in  October,  1845, 
there  is  no  cause  to  believe.  But  a  pictur- 


NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET.      l8l 

esque  story  of  a  later  dedication,  which  has  been 
invented,  ought  not  to  be  lost.  According  to 
this  tale,  the  Temple  was  consecrated  at  high 
noon  under  the  bright  sunshine  of  May.  From 
the  rivier  Des  Moines,  from  the  land  of  the 
Sauks  and  Foxes,  and  from  near  the  Missouri, 
the  elders  of  the  church  returned  to  Nauvoo 
in  disguise.  Once  within  the  sacred  enclosure 
of  the  Temple,  their  disguises  quickly  were 
thrown  aside  and  they  stood  forth  in  all  the 
splendor  of  sacerdotal  vestments.  The  great 
apartments  glowed  with  the  typical  emblems 
of  sun,  moon,  and  stars.  The  ceremonies 
were  protracted  through  the  night  and  until 
the  dawning  of  the  next  day.  Then  the  robes 
were  laid  aside,  the  decorations  removed,  and 
the  company  separated  as  mysteriously  as  it 
had  come.  The  foundation  which  exists  for 
this  tale  (and  for  what  tale  does  not  some  foun- 
dation exist  ?)  is,  according  to  Joseph  Smith, 
Jr.,  the  fact  that,  during  the  Exodus,  secret 
revels  were  held  in  the  Temple  of  such  a  sort 
as  would  have  brought  the  blush  of  shame  even 
to  those  who  in  ancient  times  made  the  House 
of  God  at  Jerusalem  a  den  of  thieves.  As 
already  has  been  stated,  some  sixteen  thousand 
Mormons  had  crossed  the  Mississippi  river  into 
Iowa  by  the  middle  of  May,  1 845.  The  remain- 
der continued  to  leave  as  fast  as  they  could  sell 


1 82      NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET. 

their  effects  and  buy  teams  and  wagons.  But 
the  impatience  of  the  gentiles  was  not  to  be 
restrained.  Under  the  guise  of  a  sheriff's  posse 
to  enforce  the  execution  of  a  writ,  a  battalion 
of  some  six  or  eight  hundred  men  mustered 
in  the  latter  days  of  August,  and,  early  in 
September,  took  up  its  march  for  Nauvoo. 
This  move  was  not  unexpected  by  the  Mor- 
mons, and  on  September  gth,  their  sentries 
on  the  roof  of  the  Temple  descried  the 
advancing  troops.  On  September  izth, 
Brockman,  the  officer  commanding  the  bat- 
talion, sent  a  flag  of  truce  into  the  town  and 
demanded  its  surrender.  The  demand  was 
refused  and  a  skirmish  of  about  an  hour's 
duration  occurred  between  the  invading  force 
and  such  of  the  Mormons  as  had  not  yet 
crossed  the  river.  Each  side  was  provided 
with  a  few  light  pieces  of  field  artillery,  and 
by  those  in  the  hands  of  the  invaders  some 
damage  was  done  to  buildings.  The  contest 
was  brought  to  an  end  through  the  intervention 
of  a  deputation  of  citizens  from  Quincy,  111., 
and,  on  September  i6th,  the  Mormons  signed 
an  agreement  to  leave  the  state  or  disperse  with- 
out delay.  They  also  agreed  that  in  the  mean- 
while the  gentiles  should  take  possession  of 
the  town.  In  less  than  twenty-four  hours  the 
whole  Mormon  population,  now  reduced  to 


NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET.      183 

about  six  hundred  persons,  had  gained  the 
Iowa  shore.  A  few,  however,  were  unable  to 
get  away,  and  upon  them  fell  the  sore  dis- 
pleasure of  the  invaders.  This  was  manifested 
for  the  most  part  by  the  administration  of  a 
ducking  in  the  river.  Sometimes  the  ducking 
was  conducted  as  a  baptism  ;  the  victim  being 
first  thrown  on  his  back,  with  the  words :  "By 
the  holy  saints  I  baptize  you  ;"  then  on  his 
face,  with  the  further  words  :  "  The  command- 
ments must  be  fulfilled."  Limp  and  dripping 
he  was  then  sent  to  the  Iowa  shore  on  a  flatboat 
with  the  injunction  ringing  in  his  ears  not  to 
come  back  if  he  valued  his  life.  Huddled 
together  on  the  flat  ground  opposite  Nauvoo, 
poorly  sheltered,  and  with  meager  food,  the 
Mormons  presented  a  sight  truly  pitiable. 
Many  were  sick  ;  all  were  more  or  less  in  dis- 
tress. Nine  births  took  place  the  first  night 
of  the  encampment.  Moreover,  that  there 
might  be  no  lack  in  the  misery  of  the  situa- 
tion, a  thunder  storm  broke  and  the  rain 
poured  steadily  down. 

Her  people  in  exile,  the  city  of  Joseph  was 
indeed  a  place  of  desolation.  Thomas  L. 
Kane,  of  Philadelphia,  a  brother  to  Dr.  Elisha 
Kane,  the  Arctic  explorer,  chanced  to  come 
there  a  few  days  after  the  evacuation,  and 
has  left  a  vivid  narrative  of  what  he  saw.  "  I 


184     NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET. 

procured  a  skiff,"  he  writes,  "and  rowing 
across  the  river,  landed  at  the  chief  wharf  of 
the  city.  No  one  met  me  there.  I  looked 
and  saw  no  one.  I  could  hear  no  one  move ; 
though  the  quiet  everywhere  was  such  that  I 
heard  the  flies  buzz  and  the  water  ripples 
break  against  the  shallows  of  the  beach.  I 
walked  through  the  solitary  streets.  The 
town  lay  as  in  a  dream,  under  some  deaden- 
ing spell  of  loneliness,  from  which  I  almost 
feared  to  wake  it."  ....  "I  went  into  empty 
workshops  and  smithies.  The  spinner's  wheel 
was  idle;  the  carpenter  had  gone  from  his 
workbench.  Fresh  bark  was  in  the  tanner's 
vat ;  and  the  fresh  chopped  light  wood  stood 
piled  against  the  baker's  oven.  The  smith's 
forge  was  cold ;  but  his  coal  heap  and  ladling 
pool  and  crooked  water  horn  were  all  there 
as  if  he  had  just  gone  off  for  a  holiday." 

But  what  concerning  the  sixteen  thousand 
of  the  Saints,  who,  months  before  this,  had 
begun  their  march  over  the  prairies  of  Iowa? 
At  their  last  meeting  in  council  in  Nauvoo, 
Elder  George  A.  Smith1  is  said  to  have  re- 
marked :  "  If  there  is  no  God  in  Israel,  we 
are  a  sucked-in  set  of  fellows ;  but  I  am  going 

1  George  A.  Smith  became  in  Utah  Brigadier-General 
of  the  Mormon  militia  and  first  counselor  to  Brigham  Young. 
He  it  was  to  whom  Young  probably  sent  the  orders  which 
caused  the  Mountain  Meadow  massacre. 


NAUVOO   AND   THE    PROPHET.  185 

to  take  my  family  and  cross  the  river,  and 
the  Lord  will  open  the  way."  When  they  set 
out,  the  weather  was  inclement  and  cold. 
They  advanced  in  the  teeth  of  northwest 
winds,  which  swept  with  great  fury  across  the 
naked  prairies.  Around  them  lay  the  with- 
ered grass,  and  much  of  the  time  only  leaden 
skies  were  seen  above.  The  fires  of  the  pre- 
ceding autumn  had  destroyed  the  dry  wood 
along  the  streams,  and  in  the  dearth  of  fuel  it 
was  with  extreme  difficulty  that  they  kept 
from  freezing.  Many  were  afflicted  with 
catarrh  and  rheumatism.  As  the  spring  came 
on,  heavy  rains  fell,  and  the  black  soil  of  the 
prairie  was  converted  into  bog.  Through  it 
waded  and  floundered  men,  women,  children, 
oxen,  and  horses.  A  mile  or  two  a  day  was 
sometimes  all  that  could  be  accomplished. 
Then  a  swollen  stream  would  be  encountered, 
and  the  whole  expedition  would  be  delayed 
for  a  fortnight.  Deaths  were  frequent.  The 
burials  were  infinitely  pathetic.  From  a  log, 
some  eight  or  nine  feet  long,  the  bark 
would  be  stripped  in  half  cylinders.  The 
body  then  would  be  placed  between  and 
the  whole  laid  in  a  shallow  trench.  After  this 
there  would  be  a  prayer,  a  hymn,  a  futile 
attempt  permanently  to  mark  the  spot  where 
the  loved  one  had  been  left,  and  a  resolute 


1 86      NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET. 

setting  of  the  face  again  to  the  westward.  On 
April  27th,  the  Mormon  hosts  reached  a  point 
in  what  is  now  Decatur  county,  Iowa,  which 
they  named  Garden  Grove.  Here,  at  the  call 
of  the  bugle,  all  hands  assembled,  and  an  or- 
ganization was  effected  for  the  purpose  of 
putting  lands  in  cultivation  and  thus  providing 
means  of  subsistence  for  the  further  stages  of 
the  journey.  Soon  hundreds  were  at  work, 
felling  trees,  splitting  rails,  making  fences, 
cutting  logs  for  houses,  building  bridges,  dig- 
ging wells,  and  making  plows.  A  strong  de- 
tachment was  then  separated  from  the  main 
column  to  occupy  the  new  settlement.  On 
June  1 7th,  at  a  point  in  what  is  now  Union 
county,  Iowa,  which  the  Mormons  called  Mt. 
Pisgah,  another  settlement  was  made.  .A  little 
later  and  the  main  column  was  at  the  Missouri, 
on  the  extreme  limit  of  Iowa  Territory,  near 
where  now  is  located  the  city  of  Council 
Bluffs. 

While  on  the  march,  the  Mormons  still  had 
continued  to  be  an  object  of  mingled  curiosity 
and  fear  to  the  gentiles.  Tales  concerning 
them  had  been  freely  invented.  One  of  these 
was  that,  when  in  the  Sauk  and  Fox  coun- 
try, a  party  of  the  Saints,  clad  in  spangled 
crimson  robes  and  headed  by  an  elder  in 
black  velvet  and  silver,  had  been  seen  teach- 


NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET.      187 

ing  a  Jewish  pow-wow  to  the  medicine  men. 
Another  tale  was  that  the  Mormons  were  go- 
ing about  among  the  lowas  in  short  frocks  of 
buffalo  robe,  in  imitation  of  John  the  Baptist, 
teaching  baptism  and  the  kingdom  of  Heaven. 
Still  another  tale  was  that  an  elder,  with  long 
white  beard,  and  who  spoke  the  Indian  lan- 
guage, because  he  had  the  gift  of  tongues,  was 
distributing  powder  and  whiskey  to  the  Yank- 
ton  Sioux.  Finally  it  was  darkly  whispered 
that  the  Saints  were  in  the  pay  of  the  British 
government,  and  were  carrying  to  the  Potta- 
wattomies  scarlet  uniforms  and  a  battery  of 
twelve  brass  field  pieces. 

The  hills  on  the  Iowa  shore  of  the  Missouri, 
where  the  Mormons  stopped,  are  bold  and 
high,  and  from  Indian  times  have  been 
called  the  council  bluffs.  On  these  hills,  and 
on  the  level  land  at  their  base,  were  pitched 
the  white  tents  and  drawn  up  the  white-topped 
wagons  of  the  exiles.  It  was  full  summer. 
Herd  boys  tended  sheep,  cows,  and  oxen 
on  the  slopes.  At  the  river  margin,  women 
washed  the  soiled  garments  of  their  families. 
Smoke  rose  high  into  the  air  from  a  thousand 
camp  fires.  The  scene  was  varied  and  filled 
with  animation.  To  make  it  even  more  so, 
the  Pottawattomie  Indians  sent  a  deputation, 
under  their  distinguished  Chief  Pied  Riche, 


1 88      NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET. 

to  confer  with  the  Mormons,  and  a  council 
was  held.  Each  party  represented  either  had 
suffered,  or  believed  it  had  suffered,  wrong  at 
the  hands  of  the  government,  and  this  created 
a  strong  bond  of  sympathy.  Pied  Riche 
himself  was  a  savage  of  some  pretensions  to- 
wards higher  things.  He  spoke  French  with 
ease.  His  daughter,  Mademoiselle  Fanny, 
played  on  the  guitar,  and  showed  her  sense  of 
the  requirements  of  hospitality  by  entertain- 
ing some  of  the  maidens  among  the  Mormons 
at  a  coffee  supper. 

Soon  after  the  Mormons  reached  the  Mis- 
souri, they  were  waited  upon  by  Captain 
Allen,  of  the  First  U.  S.  Dragoons,  for  the 
purpose  of  enlisting  from  their  numbers 
several  companies  for  the  Mexican  war. 
"You  shall  have  a  battalion  at  once,"  Brig- 
ham  Young  is  reported  to  have  said,  "even 
if  it  be  a  class  of  our  elders."  So  the  com- 
panies were  raised,  and  preparations  made 
for  the  march  against  Mexico.  A  farewell 
ball  was  given.  It  was  held  under  a  great  ar- 
bor or  bower  made  from  poles  and  branches. 
The  Mormon  belles,  as  described  by  Sten- 
house,  were  sweet  and  clean  in  white  [stock- 
ings, bright  petticoats,  starched  collars  and 
chemisettes.  The  first  dance  was  a  double 
cotillion  of  elders  and  their  partners.  This 


NAUVOO  AND  THE  PROPHET.      189 

was  followed  by  French  fours,  Copenhagen  jigs, 
and  Virginia  reels.  The  music  was  from  vio- 
lins, horns,  sleigh-bells  and  tambourines. 
When  the  frolic  was  over,  the  military  recruits 
were  called  forward  and  blessed  by  the  au- 
thorities of  the  church,  and  on  the  next  day 
were  fairly  off  for  the  war. 

The  main  body  of  the  Mormons  (as  already 
has  been  stated)  remained  in  the  camp  on 
the  river  bluffs  till  the  spring  of  1847.  They 
then  resumed  their  momentous  journey  west- 
ward into  the  wilderness.  And  as  they  went, 
they  sang  : 

"The  time  of  winter  now  is  o'er, 

There's  verdure  on  the  plain  ; 
We  leave  our  sheltering  roofs  once  more, 
And  to  our  tents  again. 

Chorus. 
O,  camp  of  Israel,  onward  move ; 

O,  Jacob,  rise  and  sing ; 
Ye  saints,  the  world's  salvation  prove ; 

All  hail  to  Zion's  King!" 


THE   FIRST   MEETING   WITH   THE 
DAHKOTAHS 


THE  FIRST  MEETING  WITH  THE 
DAHKOTAHS. 


"  Very  fierce  are  the  Dahkotahs." — Longfellow. 


FOR  an  unknown  period  of  time  before  the 
year  1600,  the  Dahkotah,  or  as  they  are  now 
generally  called,  the  Sioux,  Nation  of  Indians, 
ranged  that  part  of  the  continent  of  North 
America  extending  from  the  Rocky  moun- 
tains to  Lake  Superior  and  the  Mississippi 
river,  and  from  what  are  now  the  British 
Provinces  southward  to  about  the  parallel  of 
forty-two  degrees  north  latitude.  They  were 
wise  in  council  and  fierce  in  war.  In  these 
respects  they  resembled  the  Iroquois.  Indeed 
they  were  called  by  the  Jesuit  missionaries 
sent  among  them  the  Iroquois  of  the  West. 
The  Relation  of  1671-2  says  :  "  These  quar- 
ters of  the  North  [West]  have  their  Iroquois 
as  well  as  those  of  the  South  [East]  ;  who 
make  themselves  dreaded  by  all  their  neigh- 
bors. Our  Ouatouacs  [Ottawas],  and  Hurons 
had  up  to  the  present  time  kept  up  a  kind  of 
peace  with  them  ;  but  affairs  having  become 
embroiled,  and  some  murders  even  having 
i93 


194     FIRST    MEETING    WITH    DAHKOTAHS. 

been  committed  on  both  sides,  our  savages 
had  reason  to  apprehend  that  the  storm  would 
burst  upon  them,  and  judged  that  it  was  safer 
for  them  to  leave  the  place."  Thomas  G. 
Anderson,  who  figured  on  the  side  of  the 
British  at  the  taking  of  Fort  Shelby,  Prairie 
du  Chien,  in  1813,  and  who  had  been  an  old 
trapper  among  the  Sioux,  thus  wrote  in  his 
journal  concerning  these  Indians  as  late  as 
the  beginning  of  the  present  century.  "  I 
must  do  the  Sioux  the  justice  to  say  that  on 
the  whole  they  are  the  most  cleanly,  have  the 
best  regulations  as  a  tribe,  .  .  .  are  the 
swiftest  pedestrians,  best  bow  and  arrow  men, 
the  most  enormous  eaters  at  their  feasts, 
yet  can  abstain  longer  without  food,  than 
any  of  the  [other]  numerous  tribes  I  have 
met." 

The  name  Dahkotah  means  "  friendly  "  or 
confederated  tribes,  and  is  the  only  name  by 
which  this  people  are  known  to  themselves. 
Their  name  Sioux  is  a  modification  of  the 
final  syllables  of  the  Ojibway  word  Nadowai- 
siwug.  Nadowaisiwug  literally  means  "  like 
unto  the  adders,"  and  is  the  name  by  which 
the  Iroquois  always  have  been  known  to  the 
Ojibways.  It  was  the  early  French  mission- 
aries and  traders  who  first  abbreviated  it  to 
siwug  and  then  modified  siwug  to  sioug  and 


FIKST    MEETING    WITH    DAHKOTAHS.      195 

sioux.  The  elimination  by  the  French  of  the 
sound  for  which  the  English  letter  w  stands 
was  most  natural,  for  this  sound  is  not  repre- 
sented in  the  French  alphabet.  Charlevoix 
writes  in  his  admirable  history:  "The  name 
Scioux  that  we  give  to  these  Indians  is  en- 
tirely of  our  making,  or  rather  it  is  but  the 
last  two  syllables  of  the  name  Nadouessioux, 
as  many  nations  call  them." 

The  origin  of  the  Dahkotahs,  like  that  of 
the  other  nations  of  Indians  in  North  Amer- 
ica, is  unknown.  They  perhaps  came  into 
Minnesota  from  the  region  north  of  Lake 
Superior  where  they  had  had  conflicts  with 
the  Esquimaux.  The  first  attempt  to  classify 
them  was  made  by  Le  Sueur  in  1700.  He 
discriminated  them  into  Scioux  of  the  East 
and  Scioux  of  the  West.  Later  attempts  have 
resulted  in  classifying  them  in  three  divisions. 
The  first  division  is  the  Issati,  Isanyati,  or 
Issanti,  Sioux  —  those  who  ranged  to  the 
Eastward  of  the  Mississippi  river.  The  name 
Issanti  seems  to  have  been  derived  from  Isan- 
tamade  or  Knife  Lake,  one  of  the  Mille  Lacs, 
Minnesota,  near  which  this  branch  once  lived. 
The  second  grand  division  of  the  Dahkotahs 
is  the  Ihanktonwan,  (pronounced  E-hawnk- 
twawn)  or  Yankton  ;  this  name  means  "  Vil- 
lage at  the  End."  The  Yanktons  lived  west 


196     FIRST    MEETING    WITH    DAHKOTAHS. 

of  the  Issanti,  ranging  to  the  Missouri  river. 
The  third  division  is  the  Tee-twaun  or  Tin- 
tonwan.  This  name  means  "Village  in  the 
prairie."  The  Tintonwans  ranged  from  the 
Missouri  river  to  the  Rocky  mountains,  and 
were  the  fiercest  and  most  warlike  of  their 
nation. 

At  different  times  from  1615  to  1634,  the 
Chevalier,  Samuel  de  Champlain,  Governor  of 
New  France,  had  heard  it  said  that  four  hun- 
dred leagues  to  the  West  of  Quebec  there 
dwelt  a  people  that  formerly  had  lived  near  a 
distant  sea,  and  who  on  that  account  were 
called  the  Tribe  of  the  Men  of  the  Sea.  It 
was  told,  moreover,  that  this  Tribe  of  the  Sea 
held  intercourse  with  a  people  living  still  farther 
West  who  reached  them  by  crossing  a  vast 
expanse  of  water  in  large  canoes  made  of 
wood,  instead  of  bark,  and  who,  because  of 
their  shaved  heads,  their  beardless  chins,  and 
their  strange  costumes,  might  perhaps  be  the 
Tartars  or  Chinese.  Stimulated  by  a  wish  to 
know  if  Tartary  or  China  could  be  reached 
merely  by  crossing  the  American  Continent, 
Champlain  employed  Jean  Nicolet,  a  clerk 
and  interpreter  of  the  Company  of  the  Hun- 
dred Associates,  to  undertake  a  journey  of 
discovery.  Nicolet  set  out  on  the  first  of 
July,  1634.  He  at  length  reached  the  Hurons 


FIRST    MEETING    WITH    DAHKOTAHS.      197 

who  lived  near  the  entrance  to  Lake  Superior. 
His  journey  thence  is  best  described  in  the 
words  of  the  Jesuit  Relation  of  1643.  "  He 
embarked  from  the  territory  of  the  Hurons 
with  seven  savages  ; when  they  ar- 
rived there,  [the  country  of  the  Men  of  the 
Sea],  they  drove  two  sticks  into  the  ground 
and  hung  presents  upon  them  to  prevent  the 
people  from  taking  them  for  enemies  and 
murdering  them.  At  a  distance  of  two  days 
journey  from  this  tribe,  he  [had]  sent  one  of 
his  savages  to  carry  them  the  news  of  peace 
which  was  well  received,  especially  when  they 
heard  it  was  a  European  who  brought  the 
message.  They  dispatched  several  young 
men  to  go  to  meet  the  manitou,  that  is,  the 
wonderful  man  ;  they  come,  they  escort  him, 
they  carry  all  his  baggage.  He  was  clothed 
in  a  large  garment  of  China  damask  strewn 
with  flowers  and  birds  of  various  colors.  As 
soon  as  he  came  in  sight,  all  the  women  and 
children  fled,  seeing  a  man  carry  thunder  in 
both  hands.  They  called  thus  the  two  pistols 
he  was  holding.  The  news  of  his  coming 
spread  immediately  to  the  surrounding  places 
— and  four  or  five  thousand  men  assembled. 
Each  of  the  chiefs  gave  him  a  banquet,  and  at 
one  of  them  at  least  one  hundred  and  twenty 
beavers  were  served." 


igS     FIRST    MEETING    WITH    DAHKOTAHS. 

This  country  of  the  Men  of  the  Sea  into 
which  Nicolet  had  come,  was  the  country  of 
the  Winnebago  Indians  which  lay  south  of 
Green  Bay  in  what  is  now  the  State  of  Wis- 
consin. The  people  to  the  west  of  the  Men 
of  the  Sea,  who  were  supposed  by  Nicolet  to 
be  Asiatics,  and  for  whose  edification  he  had 
donned  his  robe  of  yellow  damask,  he  neither 
met  nor  saw.  They  were  the  Dahkotahs — 
the  denizens  of  the  wilderness  beyond  the 
Mississippi. 

The  first  men  of  European  extraction  to 
meet  any  of  the  Dahkotah  nation,  and  to  leave 
a  record  of  the  fact,  were  Pierre  d'Esprit, 
Sieur  Radisson  and  his  brother-in-law,  Me- 
dard  Chouart,  Sieur  Groseilliers.  These  men 
had  formed  a  partnership  "to  travel  and 
see  countreys,"  as  Radisson  expressed  it.  In 
this  occupation  they  spent  the  years  from 
1658  to  1685.  Radisson  kept  a  journal  of 
their  travels  from  1658  to  1664.  In  1665  he 
and  his  companion  were  in  London  court- 
ing the  favor  of  King  Charles  II.  As  one 
means  of  securing  it,  Radisson  copied  out 
this  journal  and  took  pains  to  have  the  copy 
put  into  the  King's  hands.  Through  this 
channel  Radisson's  narrative  finally  came 
into  the  possession  of  the  diarist  and  Secre- 
tary of  the  Admiralty,  Samuel  Pepys.  In 


FIRST    MEETING    WITH    DAHKOTAHS.     199 

1703,  Pepys'  manuscripts  were  scattered  and 
Radisson's  narrative  was  obtained  by  the  col- 
lector Richard  Rawlinson.  From  him  it 
drifted  into  the  Bodleian  library  where  it  now 
is.  But  to  resume.  In  1659,  the  Sieurs 
Radisson  and  Groseilliers  visited  the  town 
of  the  Mascoutins,  situated  on  Fox  river, 
thirty-seven  miles  from  Green  Bay.  The 
Mascoutins  "told  us,"  says  Radisson,  "of  a 
nation  called  Nadoneceronon  wch  is  very 
strong  wth  whom  they  weare  in  warres." 
These  Nadoneceronons  were  in  fact  the  Dah- 
kotahs — the  people  spoken  of  in  1689  by 
Perrot  as  Nadouesioux,  and  in  1767  by  Car- 
ver as  Naudawises ;  in  other  words,  the  Sioux. 
Our  travelers,  however,  did  not  come  in 
actual  contact  with  the  Dahkotahs  or  Sioux 
till  1662.  In  that  year  they  crossed  the  Mis- 
sissippi and  ascended  into  the  Mille  Lacs 
region  of  what  is  now  the  State  of  Minne- 
sota. While  here,  writes  Radisson,  "  there 
came  2  men  from  a  strange  country,  who  had 
a  dogg.  These  men  were  Nadoneseronons. 
They  were  so  much  respected  that  nobody 
durst  not  offend  them,  being  that  we  were 
upon  their  land  wth  their  leave."  Some  two 
months  later  than  this  the  Dahkotahs  sent  a 
deputation  of  eight  of  their  young  men  to 
visit  Radisson  and  his  party  and  convey  to 


2OO     FIRST    MEETING    WITH    DAHKOTAHS. 

them  assurances  of  friendship.  The  ambas- 
sadors brought  with  them  a  present  of  skins 
of  the  buffalo  and  beaver,  and  in  these  the 
travelers  at  once  arrayed  themselves.  The 
Indians  then  literally  fell  upon  the  necks  of 
their  new  found  friends  and  wept,  until,  in 
the  words  of  Radisson,  "  we  weare  wetted  by 
their  tears."  They  next  produced  the  peace 
pipe,  no  ordinary  tobacco  bowl,  Radisson 
wishes  it  understood,  for  he  describes  it  as 
only  brought  forth  "  when  there  is  occasion 
for  heaven  and  earth."  And  indeed  the  pipe 
seems  to  have  been  of  good  workmanship. 
The  bowl  was  of  red  pipe  stone,  and  as  large 
as  a  man's  fist.  The  stem  was  five  feet  long 
and  an  inch  in  diameter.  Attached  to  the 
stem,  near  the  bowl,  was  the  tail  of  an  eagle, 
spread  like  a  fan,  and  painted  in  different 
colors.  Along  the  stem  were  fastened  the 
feathers  of  ducks  and  of  birds  of  gay  plum- 
age. After  an  interval  of  silence,  Radisson 
and  his  companion  prepared  some  squibs 
which  they  threw  into  the  fire  about  which 
the  party  were  seated.  The  explosions  that 
ensued  caused  the  Sioux  to  spring  up  and 
flee  in  terror.  "We  followed  them,"  says 
Radisson,  "  to  reassure  them  of  their  faint- 
ings.  We  visited  them  in  their  apartments 
where  they  received  us  all  trembling  for 


FIRST    MEETING    WITH    DAHKOTAHS.     2OI 

feare,  believing  realy  by  the   same   meanes 
that  we  weare  the  Devils  of  the  Earth." 

About  five  days  after  these  occurrences 
thirty  young  Dahkotah  braves  arrived  armed 
with  bows  and  arrows.  The  arrows  were 
pointed  with  bits  of  stags'  horn.  The  dress 
of  these  Indains  was  scant  and  their  bodies 
were  highly  colored  with  paint.  On  the  next 
day  came  a  large  band  of  Dahkotahs.  "  They 
arrived,"  says  Radisson,  "  with  an  incredible 
pomp.  This  made  me  think  of  ye  Intrance 
yt  ye  Polanders  did  in  Paris,  saving  that  they 
had  not  so  many  Jewells,  but  instead  of  these 
they  had  so  many  feathers."  First  among 
them  were  young  warriors  armed  with  the 
bow  and  arrow  and  buckler.  The  buckler 
was  carried  on  the  shoulder  and  upon  it  were 
drawn  representations  of  the  sun,  the  moon 
and  of  wild  beasts.  The  faces  of  the  warriors 
were  daubed  with  paint.  Their  hair  had  been 
made  to  stand  erect  through  the  application 
to  it  of  a  paste  made  of  grease  and  red  earth, 
after  which  the  ends  had  been  singed  off  until 
they  were  even.  On  the  crown  of  the  head 
was  the  usual  scalp  lock,  to  the  extremity  of 
which  depended  a  few  bits  of  turquoise.  Some 
wore  attached  to  the  head,  with  fiendish  con- 
trivance, the  horns  of  the  buffalo  ;  others  the 
paws  of  the  bear.  The  ears  of  many  were 


202      FIRST    MEETING    WITH    DAHKOTAHS. 

pierced  with  five  large  holes  from  which  hung 
coppear  trinkets  shaped  like  the  half  moon 
or  the  star.  All  wore  highly  ornamented 
leggins  and  moccasins.  Besides  the  bow  and 
arrow  and  buckler,  they  carried  knives  eigh- 
teen inches  long,  ingeniously  shaped  stone 
hatchets,  and  wooden  clubs.  Close  on  the 
heels  of  the  young  men  followed  "the elders." 
They  were  clad  from  head  to  foot  in  buffalo 
robes  and  bore  themselves  with  imperturba- 
ble gravity.  Besides  the  calumet  each  of 
"  the  elders"  carried  a  medicine  bag  in  which, 
according  to  Radisson,  "  all  ye  world  was 
enclosed."  They  had  not  painted  their  faces, 
but  they  wore  the  same  head  dress  as  the 
young  men.  Bringing  up  the  rear  of  the  pro- 
cession came  the  women  laden  like  mules. 
Indeed,  almost  hidden  from  sight,  were  they, 
under  their  enormous  burdens,  the  weight  of 
which,  our  narrator  naively  hopes,  "  was  not 
equivolent  to  its  bignesse."  In  less  than  half 
an  hour  the  women  had  unslung  their  bundles, 
taken  from  them  the  tent  skins,  and  erected 
the  teepes. 

A  council  then  convened  at  which  the  Dah- 
kotahs,  after  much  talk  complimentary  to  the 
travelers  and  to  the  French  nation,  made 
a  present  to  the  former  of  buffalo  and  beaver 
skins.  They  did  this  by  way  of  courting  an 


FIRST    MEETING    WITH    DAHKOTAHS.     203 

alliance  with  the  French,  their  thought  being, 
according  to  Radisson,  "  that  the  true  means 
to  gett  the  victory  was  to  have  a  thunder," 
(fire  arms)  with  which  the  French  were  well 
supplied.  After  the  council  a  feast  was  an- 
nounced. Four  beautiful  maids,  carrying 
bear  skins,  preceded  the  travelers  to  the  place 
where  the  feast  had  been  prepared.  One  of 
Radisson's  party  then  indulged  in  some  sing- 
ing, after  which,  says  Radisson,  "we  began  our 
teeth  to  worke."  The  meal  consisted,  among 
other  things,  of  wild  rice.  At  its  end  the  trav- 
elers made  gifts  to  their  entertainers  of  "hatch- 
ets," knives,  awles,  needles,  "  looking  glasses 
made  of  tine,"  little  bells,  ivory  combs,  and  a 
pot  of  vermilion.  A  special  gift  of  necklaces 
and  bracelets  was  made  to  the  Indian  maidens 
who  had  served  at  the  dinner.  "This  last 
gift,"  says  Radisson,  "  was  in  generall  for  all 
ye  women  to  love  us  and  give  us  to  eat  when 
we  should  come  to  their  cottages."  The 
Indians  expressed  their  gratification  at  this 
munificence  by  shouts  of  Ho!  Ho!  Ho! 

The  travelers  next  paid  a  visit  to  the  nation 
of  the  Christines  who  dwelt  a  seven  days 
journey  to  the  northward  of  the  Mille  Lacs. 
They  then  returned  to  the  Bceuf  band  of  the 
Dahkotahs,  with  whom  they  had  held  the 
council  above  described.  This  time,  how- 


204     FIRST    MEETING    WITH    DAHKOTAHS. 

ever,  they  went  to  the  principal  village  of  the 
Boeufs  which  consisted  of  permanent,  rectan- 
gular lodges  like  those  which  the  Sacs  and 
Foxes  afterwards  built  near  the  mouth  of  the 
Rock  river  in  what  is  now  the  State  of  Illi- 
nois. This  village,  Radisson  thinks,  con- 
tained a  population  of  seven  thousand  souls. 
The  summering  grounds  of  these  Dahkotahs 
were  further  South — probably  near  where  is 
now  located  the  city  of  Dubuque  in  the  state 
of  Iowa. 

After  six  weeks  spent  at  the  village  of  the 
Bceufs,  Radisson  and  Groseilliers,  taking  a 
final  and  friendly  leave  of  the  Dahkotahs,  set 
out  in  the  direction  of  the  Sault  Ste.  Marie. 


THE  TRAGEDY  AT  MINNEWAUKON 


THE   TRAGEDY  AT   MINNEWAUKON. 

AMONG  the  hills  and  prairies  of  Northwestern 
Iowa  are  the  three  lakes,  East  Okobogi,  West 
Okobogi,  and  Minnewaukon.  Minnewaukon 
or  Spirit  Water  is  the  largest  of  the  three.  It 
is  circular  in  shape,  and  covers  an  area  of 
twelve  square  miles.  To  the  east  of  it  the 
country  is  bare  and  rolling ;  to  the  west  are 
low  bluffs  dotted  with  groves.  In  the  thought 
of  the  Indian  it  was  the  abode  of  spirits ;  he 
regarded  it  with  superstitious  awe,  and  is  said 
never  but  once  to  have  profaned  its  surface 
with  canoe  and  paddle.  On  this  one  occa- 
sion an  Indian  maiden,  captured  in  a  far  land, 
had  been  rescued  by  her  lover,  and  with  him 
had  taken  flight  across  the  lake.  In  blind 
rage  her  captors  cast  away  prudence  and 
launched  their  canoes  in  pursuit.  Midway  in 
the  passage  a  storm  arose ;  the  outraged  genii 
of  the  place  appealed  to  the  gods  of  the  wind 
and  thunder,  and  the  daring  and  impious 
band  were  overwhelmed.  East  Okobogi 
(okobogi  means  place  of  rest)  begins  at  the 
foot  of  Minnewaukon,  from  which  it  is  nar- 
rowly separated,  and  extends  southeastwardly 
207 


208      THE    TRAGEDY    AT    MINNEWAUKON. 

for  about  six  miles.  It  is  slightly  below  the 
level  of  Minnewaukon,  and  its  general  ap- 
pearance is  that  of  a  broad  and  tranquil  river. 
West  Okobogi  is  the  most  beautiful  lake  in 
Iowa.  Its  waters  are  as  transparent  as  those 
of  Garda  ;  they  have  been  sounded  to  a  depth 
of  perhaps  two  hundred  feet ;  objects  beneath 
them  have  been  distinguished  at  a  depth  of 
fifty  feet.  Its  shores  are  broken  into  bold 
capes  and  headlands,  and  its  beaches  are 
broad  and  hard.  It  is  of  a  curved  or  horse- 
shoe shape,  and  lies  directly  south  of  East 
Okobogi.  Indeed  it  is  separated  from  its 
gentle  sister  on  the  north  only  by  a  slender 
strait.  Its  direction  is  first  southwestward  for 
nearly  five  miles;  then,  in  a  graceful  curve, 
an  equal  distance  to  the  northward.  It  was 
called  by  the  Indians  Minnetonka  or  great 
water,  to  distinguish  it  from  its  sister  lake. 

To-day  these  three  lakes,  like  nearly  all 
such  bodies  of  water  in  America,  are  the 
resort  of  large  numbers  of  tourists.  Forty 
years  ago  they  were  solitary  and  almost  un- 
known. The  groves  of  oak  and  elm  along 
their  shores  were  twined  and  festooned  with 
the  woodbine,  the  wild  grape  vine,  and  the 
ivy.  Herds  of  shy  deer  assembled  at  their 
edge  to  drink.  On  the  point  of  some  long 
tongue  of  land  the  elk  bent  down  his  head  to 


THE   TRAGEDY    AT    MINNEWAUKON.      209 

the  water,  while  his  perfect  reflection  looked 
up  at  him  from  beneath.  In  the  autumn, 
after  the  leaves  on  the  trees  had  turned  to 
yellow  and  red,  flocks  of  wild  ducks  and 
geese,  flocks  countless  in  number,  that  at 
times  darkened  the  air  with  their  plumage, 
came  steadily  on  from  the  north  till  the  lakes 
lay  spread  below;  then  suddenly  wheeled  and 
descended  into  them  with  a  mighty  splash 
and  with  many  a  squawk  and  flutter. 

At  this  early  time  in  the  history  of  the 
Northwest,  Minnewaukon  and  its  companion 
lakes  were  yet  within  the  borders  of  the  great 
territory  dominated  by  the  Dahkotah  or  Sioux 
nation  of  Indians.  In  general  the  limits  of 
this  territory  were  the  river  St.  Peter's  on  the 
east,  the  Rocky  Mountains  on  the  west,  the 
Canadian  possessions  on  the  north,  and  an 
uncertain  line  on  the  south  near  the  parallel 
of  forty-five  degrees  north  latitude.  Except- 
ing only  the  Iroquois,  the  Dahkotahs  have 
been  the  most  remarkable  people  of  purely 
Indian  characteristics  upon  our  continent. 
Their  name  Dahkotah  (confederated  bands) 
is  that  given  to  them  by  themselves ;  their 
name  Sioux  is  from  Nadesioux,  the  word  used 
to  designate  them  by  the  early  French  traders 
and  explorers.  Nadesioux,  however,  is  not  a 
proper  noun  ;  it  is  merely  a  Gallicized  form  of 


210      THE    TRAGEDY    AT    MINNEWAUKON. 

the  Ojibway  word  Nadowaisiwug  (adders  or 
enemies),  and  was  employed  by  the  Ojibways 
as  descriptive  of  the  Iroquois  as  well  as  of  the 
Dahkotahs. 

The  first  meeting  of  the  Dahkotah  Indians 
by  white  men  took  place  at  a  spot  not  so 
remote  from  this  lake  region  of  Iowa.  In 
1662  the  French  travelers,  Radisson  and 
Groseilliers,  held  a  council  with  a  large  com- 
pany of  the  Dahkotahs  near  the  Mille  Lacs, 
in  what  is  now  the  State  of  Minnesota.1  They 
were  even  then  a  famous  and  dreaded  nation. 
Says  Radisson,  in  his  quaint,  Gallic  way: 
"They  were  so  much  respected  that  nobody 
durst  not  offend  them."  In  subsequent  years 
their  tribal  organization  was  studied.  They 
were  found  to  be  separated  into  three  great 
divisions  :  the  Issanti,  (of  which  the  principal 
band  was  the  Meddewakantonwan)  the  Yank- 
tons,  and  the  Tintonwans.  The  Issanti  ex- 
tended to  the  east  of  the  Mississippi  river. 
It  was  by  them  that  Father  Hennepin  was 
made  a  prisoner  in  1680,  and  by  them  that 
the  death  of  the  good  father  was  for  a  time 
seriously  meditated  for  the  prize  of  his 
priestly  vestments.  The  Yanktons  and  the 
Tintonwans  lived  west  of  the  Mississippi. 

1  See  the  paper  in  this  volume  entitled,  The  First  Meet- 
ing with  the  Dahkotahs. 


THE    TRAGEDY    AT    MINNEWAUKON.       211 

The  Tintonwans  were  the  fiercest  and  also  the 
most  westerly  of  the  Dahkotahs.  They  dwelt 
on  the  plains.  Their  name,  indeed,  indicates 
their  place  of  habitation  ;  it  means  dwellers 
in  the  prairie.  The  number  of  the  Dah- 
kotahs—taking  them  in  all  their  branches — 
originally  was  large,  and  continued  to  be 
so  down  to  recent  years.  It  was  placed  by 
the  earliest  French  writers  at  forty  thousand. 
In  1763  Lieutenant  James  Gorrell,  the  British 
officer  in  command  at  Detroit,  placed  it  at 
thirty  thousand.  In  1852  Rev.  Stephen  R. 
Riggs,  a  missionary  among  the  Dahkotahs, 
thought  it  to  be  twenty-five  thousand.  In 
1837  the  Issanti  division  ceded  all  its  lands 
east  of  the  Mississippi  to  the  United  States, 
and  retired  to  the  region  of  the  St.  Peter's 
river  in  Minnesota.  Besides  the  Meddewa- 
kantonwan  band  of  the  Issanti,  there  was  also 
the  Wakpekute.  This  band  was  in  constant 
war  with  the  Sacs  and  Foxes  of  Iowa  until 
the  removal  of  the  latter  from  Iowa  territory 
in  the  year  1845.  There  were  two  chiefs  of 
the  Wakpekute :  Wamdisapa  or  Black  Eagle 
and  Tasagi.  Wamdisapa  and  his  immediate 
followers  were  savages  of  such  unusual  fero- 
city and  ardor  that  they  could  not  dwell  at 
peace  even  with  their  own  band.  They  there- 
fore separated  from  it  and  went  west  to  the 


212      THE    TRAGEDY    AT    MINNEWAUKON. 

lands  on  the  Vermillion  river.  So  complete 
was  this  separation  that  in  1851,  when  the 
Issanti  tribe  ceded  the  territory  owned  by 
them  in  Minnesota,  Wamdisapa's  contingent 
was  not  deemed  a  part  of  the  Wakpekute 
band  and  was  not  asked  to  join  in  the  treaty. 
Among  the  followers  of  Wamdisapa  was  a 
brave  by  the  name  of  Sidominaduta.  On 
Wamdisapa's  death  this  brave  became  chief  of 
the  band.  He  was  holding  this  position  at 
the  time  of  the  settlement  of  the  country 
about  Fort  Dodge  in  Iowa,  and  with  his  band 
was  often  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Fort.  He 
was  always  regarded  with  distrust  and  fear  by 
the  settlers.  One  winter's  day  in  1854  he 
was  found  dead  upon  the  prairie.  An  aged 
crone  who  was  living  in  his  family,  his  squaw 
and  two  of  his  children  were  found  dead  in 
his  lodge.  They  all  had  been  killed  by  a 
trader  named  Henry  Lott,  who  immediately 
afterwards  had  burned  his  dwelling  and  fled 
the  state.  According  to  the  story  told  by 
those  of  the  chief's  family  who  survived,  (a 
boy  twelve,  and  a  girl  ten,  years  old)  Lott 
and  his  son  one  morning  had  met  the  chief 
near  his  lodge  and  urged  him  to  go  in  quest 
of  some  elk  which  they  said  they  had  seen 
feeding  in  the  bottom  lands.  Thereupon  the 
chief  had  taken  his  rifle,  mounted  a  pony  and 


THE    TRAGEDY    AT    MINNEWAUKON.       213 

ridden  off.  Lott  and  his  son  had  stealthily 
followed  him  and  shot  him.  At  night  on  the 
same  day  the  settler  and  his  son,  disguised  as 
Indians,  had  come  to  Sidominaduta's  lodge 
and  killed  his  entire  family,  save  themselves; 
they  had  escaped  by  hiding.  In  spite  of  the 
evil  reputation  of  the  leading  victim  of  this 
tragedy,  no  cause  for  Lett's  act  ever  could  be 
found,  and  a  wish  by  the  Indians  to  avenge  it 
no  doubt  had  something  to  do  with  subse- 
quent events. 

Sidominaduta  being  dead,  his  brother, 
Inkpaduta,  or  Scarlet  Point,  who  also  had 
been  a  follower  of  Wamdisapa,  became  chief. 
Inkpaduta  fully  sustained  the  reputation  for 
ferocity  borne  by  both  his  predecessors  in 
office.  He  had  killed,  it  is  said,  Wamdisapa's 
co-chief,  Tasagi,  because  of  Tasagi's  com- 
parative mildness  of  disposition,  and  to  open 
the  way  for  the  elevation  of  his  own  family 
to  the  chieftainship.  He  was  six  feet  tall,  of 
strong  frame,  his  face  ugly  and  deeply  pitted 
by  small-pox.  No  picturesque  sight  could  he 
have  been  as  he  lounged  in  his  tepee  sur- 
rounded by  dirty,  screeching,  fighting  chil- 
dren, and  squaws  of  an  exterior  and  deport- 
ment as  little  prepossessing ;  the  whole  party 
— if  in  the  game  country — greedily  despatch- 
ing a  meal  of  uncooked  bison's  liver;  and, 


214       THE    TRAGEDY    AT    MINNEWAUKON. 

if  on  short  commons,  still  more  greedily 
devouring  half-singed  skunk  meat  or  putres- 
cent  fish.  He  must  have  appeared  positively 
terrifying  and  revolting  when  decked  for 
war ;  his  face  daubed  with  black  streaks,  eagles' 
feathers  in  his  hair,  and  malignant  light  lurk- 
ing in  his  eyes. 

In  1856,  some  six  or  seven  families,  embrac- 
ing forty  persons,  built  cabins  for  themselves 
along  Minnewaukon  and  the  Okobogi  lakes. 
At  a  point  in  Minnesota  (now  the  town  of 
Jackson)  eighteen  miles  north  from  the  lakes, 
a  half  dozen  families  also  had  built  cabins. 
Forty  miles  to  the  south  of  the  lakes  were  a 
few  other  settlers.  To  the  east,  near  where 
Emmetsburg  now  stands,  were  five  or  six  more 
families.  There  were  also  some  scattered 
farmsteads  to  the  southwest  along  the  Little 
Sioux  river.  All  were  about  equally  new  and 
raw,  and  about  equally  exposed  upon  the 
frontier.  The  winter  of  1856-7,  in  Minnesota 
and  Iowa  especially,  was  memorable  for  sever- 
ity and  for  long  duration.  It  began  early  in 
December  and  continued  far  into  April. 
Snow  fell  to  a  depth  of  three  feet  on  level 
ground.  High  winds  prevailed,  and  whenever 
the  ground  or  objects  offered  a  sufficient  ob- 
struction, immense  drifts  accumulated.  More- 
over, it  was  fiercely  cold ;  ice  formed  with 


THE    TRAGEDY    AT    MINNEWAUKON.       215 

almost  instantaneous  quickness.  In  the  well 
settled  parts  of  Iowa  roads  were  blockaded 
business  brought  to  a  stop,  and  great  suffering 
entailed.  How  life  fared  with  the  pioneers  of 
the  lake  country,  most  of  us  can  with  difficulty 
imagine.  Their  houses  were  of  logs,  entrance 
to  which  was  barred  only  by  rude,  wooden 
doors,  hung  on  wooden  hinges  and  fastened 
by  wooden  latch  pieces.  Many  of  them  had 
no  floors.  In  others  prairie  grass  had  been 
spread  over  the  ground  and  secured  in  place  by 
a  covering  of  rag  carpet.  Heat  was  obtained 
from  the  stove  on  which  the  scant  meals  of  the 
family  were  cooked.  There  were  no  supplies, 
other  than  game,  except  as  they  were  brought 
from  points  distant  nearly  a  hundred  miles. 
It  was  at  night,  more  especially,  that  a  sharp 
sense  of  the  solitude  and  isolation  of  their 
position  was  forced  upon  these  people.  The 
hard  lakes  gleamed  in  the  clear  light  of  the 
moon.  All  else  of  nature  was  snow  hidden ; 
mystic,  beautiful,  yet  inexpressibly  desolate 
and  waste.  Wolves  cried,  and  the  snapping 
and  cracking  of  the  frost-pervaded  forest 
raised  in  the  minds  of  the  startled  hearer 
visions  none  the  less  appalling  that  they  were 
ill-defined.  Or  it  was  a  night  (and  there 
were  many  such  at  the  lakes)  on  which  a 
blizzard,  a  visitation  literally  from  the  land 


2l6      THE    TRAGEDY    AT    MINNEWAUKON. 

of  the  Dahkotahs,  was  sweeping  down  upon 
the  settlement.  The  north  wind— the  veri- 
table Kabibonokka  of  Indian  legend — 

"  Howled  and  hurried  southward." 

Before  it  were  driven  the  fine  snow  crystals, 
pitiless  upon  the  cheek  as  powdered  glass. 
They  sifted  through  the  chinks  of  the  cabins, 
accumulating  in  little  piles  upon  the  flooring, 
upon  the  bed  clothes  and  upon  the  faces  of 
the  sleeping  children.  On  such  a  night  there 
was  absolutely  no  safety  without.  A  strong 
man  would  have  perished  twenty  paces  from 
his  own  door. 

At  last,  after  many  weeks  marked  by 
weather  such  as  has  just  been  described,  there 
came  a  milder  and  less  tempestuous  season. 
It  was  March.  Indians  were  encamped  at 
different  points  about  the  lakes  and  on  the 
Des  Moines  river.  There  were  some  Yank- 
tons  and  there  was  Inkpaduta's  band.  Around 
Minnewaukon  were  twenty  tepees;  near 
Springfield  (Jackson)  Minnesota  were  fifteen 
or  twenty  more.  There  also  were  four  or 
five  at  Big  Island  Grove,  a  place  some  six 
miles  southeast  from  where  now  is  the  town 
of  Estherville.  This  last  mentioned  camp 
was  presided  over  by  the  chief  Ishtabahah  or 
Sleepy-Eye.  It  was  the  opinion  of  Major 
William  Williams,  who  led  the  relief  expedi- 


THE   TRAGEDY   AT    MINNEWAUKON.      217 

tion — to  be  described  later  on — that  this  mar- 
shalling of  Indians  betokened  a  plan  on  their 
part  to  devastate  and  depopulate  northwestern 
Iowa.  Be  that  as  it  may,  I  am  now  to  relate 
the  events  which  actually  transpired. 

On  the  morning  of  March  8th,  the  family 
of  Rowland  Gardner  —  a  settler  living  on  the 
south  shore  of  Lake  West  Okobogi  —  rose 
early  so  that  Gardner  himself  might  gain 
time  for  the  journey  to  Fort  Dodge  on 
which  he  was  to  start  that  day.  Rowland 
Gardner's  family  comprised  his  wife,  a 
daughter  of  thirteen,  a  son  of  about  six,  a 
married  daughter,  her  husband,  her  little 
son,  and  her  infant.  While  breakfast  was 
in  progress,  an  Indian  entered  and  asked 
for  food.  He  was  at  once  given  a  seat  at  the 
table  with  the  family.  Soon  other  Indians 
came  until  the  cabin  was  filled  with  fifteen 
braves  together  with  their  squaws  and  pa- 
pooses. They  were  no  other  than  Inkpaduta 
and  his  band.  All  were  liberally  provided 
with  such  food  as  the  family  had  in  store  and 
ate  greedily  until  satisfied.  They  then  be- 
came insolent  :  demanded  ammunition  and 
many  things  besides.  One  of  them  snatched 
a  box  of  gun  caps  from  the  hand  of  Gardner; 
another  tried  to  seize  from  the  wall  a  horn  of 
powder,  but  in  this  was  foiled  by  Gardner's 


2l8      THE    TRAGEDY    AT    MINNEWAUKON. 

son-in-law,  Luce.  The  Indian  who  had  been 
foiled  then  drew  up  his  rifle,  apparently  to 
kill  Luce,  but  did  not  discharge  the  weapon. 
At  this  juncture  two  of  the  neighboring  set- 
tlers, Dr.  Isaac  Harriot  and  Bertell  Snyder, 
called  at  the  Gardner  cabin  to  leave  letters  to 
be  taken  to  Fort  Dodge.  Gardner  told  them 
he  could  not  leave  his  family  that  day  as  the 
Indians  evidently  were  in  an  ugly  mood. 
Harriot  and  Snyder  made  light  of  this  opin- 
ion, did  some  trading  with  Inkpaduta's  party, 
and  then  went  to  their  own  cabin  on  the 
peninsula  between  the  Lakes  East  and  West 
Okobogi.  At  noon  the  Indians  left  the  Gard- 
ner house  and  strolled  off  toward  that  of 
another  settler,  James  Mattock,  which  stood 
near  the  cabin  of  Harriot  and  Snyder.  A  con- 
sultation was  then  held  by  the  inmates  of  the 
Gardner  house.  It  was  decided  to  warn  the 
other  settlers.  At  about  two  o'clock  Luce, 
and  a  man  by  the  name  of  Clarke,  who  seems 
temporarily  to  have  been  staying  with  the 
Gardners,  set  forth  on  this  errand.  At  about 
three  o'clock  the  report  of  rifles  discharged 
in  rapid  succession  reached  the  Gardners  from 
the  direction  of  the  Mattock  cabin.  After 
some  two  hours  of  wearing  anxiety  and  sus- 
pense, Gardner  unbarred  his  door  and  went 
out  to  reconnoiter  the  ground.  He  hastily 


THE   TRAGEDY   AT    MINNEWAUKON.       219 

returned,  saying  that  nine  Indians  were  ap- 
proaching the  house  and  that  the  inmates 
were  all  doomed  to  die.  He  wished,  how- 
ever, to  barricade  the  door  and  make  a  de- 
termined fight.  This  his  wife  and  married 
daughter  persuaded  him  not  to  do,  but  still 
further  to  trust  to  the  policy  of  conciliation. 
It  was  now  five  o'clock.  The  day  had  been 
one  of  exceptionally  fine  weather.  The  sun 
had  risen  in  a  cloudless  sky  and  the  sky  was  yet 
clear  and  blue  as  he  neared  his  setting.  A  huge 
ball  of  flame  he  sank  slowly  beneath  the 
horizon  lighting  up  the  lakes  and  the  whit- 
ened prairie  with  a  crimson  glow.  The  nine 
Indians  who  had  been  approaching  now 
entered  the  cabin.  One  of  them  roughly 
demanded  meal.  Gardner  turned  to  get  it, 
and  was  instantly  shot  through  the  heart. 
The  women,  excepting  Abigal  Gardner,  the 
daughter  of  thirteen,  were  then  beaten  over 
the  head  by  the  Indians  with  the  butts  of 
their  rifles,  dragged  into  the  cabin  dooryard, 
and  scalped.  What  next  occurred  is  best 
told  in  Abigal  Gardner's  own  words.  She 
says :  "  During  these  awful  scenes  I  was 
seated  in  a  chair,  holding  my  sister's  baby  in 
my  arms ;  her  little  boy  on  one  side,  and  my 
little  brother  on  the  other,  clinging  to  me  in 
terror.  They  seized  the  children,  tearing 


220      THE    TRAGEDY    AT    MINNEWAUKON. 

them  from  me  one  by  one,  while  they  reached 
their  little  arms  to  me,  crying  piteously  for 
protection  that  I  was  powerless  to  give. 
Heedless  of  their  cries,  they  dragged  them 
out  of  doors  and  beat  them  to  death  with 
sticks  of  stovewood." 

Abigal  Gardner  was  made  a  captive  by  the 
Indians  and  taken  to  their  camp  which  had 
been  erected  about  the  Mattock  cabin.  Here 
she  was  met  by  a  sight  no  less  terrible  than 
that  which  she  had  just  beheld.  It  was  night, 
but  the  woods  were  illuminated,  both  by  the 
camp  fires  of  the  Indians,  and  by  the  flames 
of  the  burning  cabin.  Scattered  over  the 
ground  were  the  mutilated  remains  of  eleven 
persons,  men,  women,  and  children.  Within 
the  burning  cabin  were  two  more  victims,  not 
yet  dead,  but  rending  the  air  with  shrieks  of 
agony  as  the  flames  devoured  them.  There 
were  some  slight  evidences  of  resistance  on 
the  part  of  the  settlers.  Dr.  Harriot  lay  with 
a  broken  rifle  grasped  in  his  hand.  Rifles 
were  lying  near  the  bodies  of  Mattock  and 
Snyder.  Their  work  of  death  finished  for 
the  present,  the  savages  celebrated  it  by  the 
war-dance.  "  Near  the  ghastly  corpses  and 
over  the  blood-stained  snow;"  says  Abigal 
Gardner,  "  with  blackened  faces  and  fierce 
uncouth  gestures ;  and  with  wild  screams  and 


THE    TRAGEDY    AT    MINNEWAUKON.       221 

yells,  they  circled  round  and  round,  keeping 
time  to  the  dullest,  dreariest  sound  of  drum 
and  rattle,  until  complete  exhaustion  com- 
pelled them  to  desist." 

The  next  day  the  cabins  belonging  to  the 
other  settlers  about  the  lakes  were  visited  by 
Inkpaduta  and  his  party,  and  the  inmates 
either  shot  or  brained  with  clubs.  The  wives 
of  three  of  the  settlers,  Noble,  Thatcher,  and 
Marble,  were  taken  captive  as  had  been  the 
daughter  of  Rowland  Gardner.  The  Indians 
then  made  ready  to  quit  the  country  of  the 
three  lakes  and  Iowa.  Before  doing  so,  how- 
ever, they  peeled  a  section  of  bark  from  a 
large  tree  that  stood  near  the  Marble  cabin, 
on  the  west  shore  of  Minnewaukon,  and  on 
the  white  surface  thus  exposed  left  in  picture 
writing  a  record  of  their  deeds.  The  num- 
ber of  persons  killed  by  them  (thirty-two  in 
all)  was  indicated  with  entire  accuracy  by 
rude  sketches  of  human  figures  transfixed 
with  arrows.  There  was  also  a  sketch  of  the 
Mattock  cabin  in  flames. 

The  fact  of  this  massacre  in  the  lake  region 
of  Iowa  was  discovered  on  March  gth  by 
Morris  Markham,  a  man  who  had  been  liv- 
ing at  the  house  of  Noble  and  Thatcher,  but 
who  was  absent  when  the  attack  by  the  In- 
dians was  made.  He  fled  with  the  news  to 


222       THE    TRAGEDY    AT    MINNEWAUKON. 

Springfield,  Minnesota.  He  also  communi- 
cated it  to  two  settlers  upon  the  Des  Moines 
who  carried  it  to  Fort  Dodge.  There  at  first 
it  was  deemed  an  idle  tale.  But  on  March 
22d,  three  men  well  known  in  Fort  Dodge 
returned  from  a  prospecting  trip  to  the  shores 
of  Minnewaukon  and  the  Okobogis  and  con- 
firmed what  already  had  been  heard. 

An  expedition,  composed  of  nearly  one 
hundred  men  from  Webster  City  and  Fort 
Dodge,  was  at  once  organized  at  the  latter 
place  to  go  to  the  lakes.  Supplies  for  the 
journey  were  carried  in  wagons  drawn  by 
teams  of  oxen  and  horses.  Among  the  men 
was  Cyrus  C.  Carpenter  afterwards  gov- 
ernor of  Iowa.  The  party  was  under  the 
command  of  Major  William  Williams  of  Fort 
Dodge,  a  man  of  much  experience  with  the 
Indians.  The  start  was  made  on  March  25th. 
Great  difficulty  was  found  in  marching.  The 
weather  for  a  time  had  been  mild,  and  the 
depressions  in  the  prairie  were  covered  by  a 
mass  of  snow  and  water,  three  or  four  feet 
deep.  In  order  to  break  a  road  for  the  wag- 
ons, the  men  were  formed  in  a  solid  column 
and  marched  forward  several  rods.  They 
were  then  faced  about  and  marched  back 
over  the  same  course.  Next  the  wagons 
were  unhitched  from  the  teams  and  driven 


THE    TRAGEDY    AT    MINNEWAUKON.       223 

ahead  by  the  united  strength  of  the  com- 
mand. When  stopped  by  an  accumulation 
of  snow  in  front,  shovels  were  resorted  to 
and  the  obstruction  cleared  away  for  another 
advance.  The  horses  and  oxen  proved  to  be 
much  harder  to  drive  forward  than  had  the 
wagons.  They  sank  to  their  bellies  in  the 
snow  and  slush  and  became  utterly  helpless. 
They  were  only  rescued  by  hard  pushing, 
pulling,  and  lifting.  On  the  28th,  the  party 
reached  a  place  called  Shippey's,  on  Cylinder 
Creek.  On  the  2Qth,  they  reached  the  Irish 
colony  near  where  now  is  the  town  of  Em- 
metsburg.  On  the  3oth,  they  came  to  Big 
Island  Grove  on  Mud,  now  High,  lake. 

Here  they  discovered  evidences  that  their 
of  approach  had  been  watched  by  the  band 
Ishtabahah  or  Sleepy-Eye.  On  Big  Island, 
which  stands  in  the  middle  of  the  lake, 
grew  a  tall  cedar  tree,  and  in  its  branches, 
forty  feet  from  the  ground,  the  Indians  had 
built  a  platform.  From  this  elevation  it  was 
possible  to  see  a  distance  of  twenty  miles  in 
all  directions.  Fires  were  yet  smouldering 
where  the  Indians  had  made  their  camp ; 
several  fish  were  lying  on  the  ice  of  the  lake 
near  holes  which  but  recently  had  been  cut ; 
a  half-finished  canoe  was  upon  the  lake  shore. 
On  the  3ist,  the  command  of  Major  Williams 


224      THE    TRAGEDY    AT    MINNEWAUKON. 

met  a  party  of  twenty  fugitives  from  Min- 
nesota, and  learned  from  them  that,  a  few 
days  after  the  massacre  in  Iowa,  Inkpaduta's 
band,  together  with  a  number  of  Yanktons, 
had  made  an  attack  on  Springfield.  Several 
settlers  had  been  killed,  but  they  had  escaped 
and  were  fleeing  to  Fort  Dodge  for  safety. 
This  party  consisted  of  three  men  and  seven- 
teen women  and  children.  Some  of  them 
had  been  painfully  wounded  in  the  attack, 
and  all  were  suffering  from  cold,  hunger,  and 
exhaustion.  They  were  sent  to  the  Irish  set- 
tlement by  Major  Williams,  and  the  advance 
continued.  On  April  ist,  the  command 
reached  Granger's  Point,  near  where  Esther- 
ville  now  stands,  and  also  near  the  Minnesota 
line.  During  the  preparations  for  encamp- 
ment, a  mounted  soldier  of  the  regular  army 
was  seen  approaching.  From  him  it  was 
learned  that  troops  from  Fort  Ridgley,  Min- 
nesota, were  then  at  Springfield,  and  that 
Inkpaduta's  band  and  their  allies,  the  Yank- 
ton  band,  had  escaped. 

This  news  was  highly  unwelcome  and  dis- 
heartening to  the  volunteers,  as  they  had 
hoped  to  reach  the  lakes  in  time  to  inflict 
punishment  upon  the  perpetrators  of  the 
massacre.  But  further  advance  would  have 
been  useless,  and  on  the  morning  of  April 


THE    TRAGEDY    AT    MINNEWAUKON.       225 

2d,  the  entire  command,  save  a  squad  of 
twenty-six  men  which  was  sent  out  to  inter 
the  dead  bodies  at  the  lakes,  faced  about  and 
began  their  homeward  march.  On  April  4th, 
Major  Williams  with  the  main  party  reached 
the  banks  of  Cylinder  Creek.  The  weather 
was  warm  and  had  melted  the  snow  so  rapidly 
that  the  creek  was  out  of  its  banks  and  the 
prairie  inundated  as  far  as  the  eye  could  see. 
The  men  were  weary ;  their  clothes  torn  and 
wet ;  their  boots  soaked.  Moreover  they  were 
without  food  and  the  materials  for  a  fire. 
While  in  this  exposed  place  and  in  this 
reduced  condition,  the  weather  suddenly 
changed.  At  about  four  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon, the  wind  swept  into  the  north  and 
began  blowing  a  gale.  It  grew  intensely 
cold.  The  air  was  filled  with  fine  snow  and 
sleet.  In  short,  a  blizzard  —  that  terror  of 
the  plains  in  the  Northwest — had  broken  and 
was  fast  swinging  into  full  career.  Nothing 
remained  for  the  command  but  to  go  into 
camp  for  the  night  where  they  were,  bleak 
and  inhospitable  though  the  spot.  Accord- 
ingly they  removed  the  canvas  top  to  the  one 
wagon  which  they  still  had  with  them,  and 
spread  it,  together  with  some  tent  cloth, 
across  the  wagon  body.  They  then  staked 
the  sides  of  this  covering,  as  best  they  were 


226      THE    TRAGEDY    AT    MINNEWAUKON. 

able,  to  the  frozen  earth.  Snow  was  banked 
up  against  the  improvised  shelter  on  all  sides 
save  the  south,  where  an  opening  had  been 
left  for  ingress.  Opposite  this  opening  they 
stationed  the  horses.  The  party  then  made 
with  their  blankets  a  bed  in  common,  and 
crept  into  it.  At  intervals  it  became  neces- 
sary to  renew  the  embankment  of  snow  which 
the  terrible  wind  had  scattered.  Here,  with- 
out fire,  without  food,  in  frozen  garments, 
and  with  the  thermometer  thirty-four  degrees 
below  zero,  the  command  remained  huddled 
together  from  Saturday  night  until  Monday 
morning.  On  that  morning,  April  6th,  the 
storm  subsided.  The  waters  of  Cylinder 
Creek  were  found  to  be  hard  ice,  and  on  this 
a  crossing  was  made.  Writing  in  1887,  Ex- 
Governor  Cyrus  C.  Carpenter  said :  "  Since 
that  experience  on  Cylinder  Creek,  I  have 
marched  with  armies  engaged  in  actual  war. 
During  three  and  one  half  years  of  service 
the  army  with  which  I  was  connected  marched 
from  Cairo  to  Chattanooga;  from  Chatta- 
nooga to  Atlanta ;  from  Atlanta  to  the  Sea ; 
from  the  Sea,  through  the  Carolinas,  to  Rich- 
mond. These  campaigns  were  made  under 
southern  suns  and  in  the  cold  rains  and  not 
infrequent  snow  storms  of  southern  winters. 
They  were  sometimes  continued  for  three  or 


THE    TRAGEDY    AT    MINNEWAUKON,       22? 

four  days  and  nights  in  succession,  with  only 
an  occasional  halt  to  give  weary,  foot-sore 
soldiers  a  chance  to  boil  a  cup  of  coffee. 
But  I  never,  in  these  weary  years,  experienced 
a  conflict  with  the  elements  that  could  be 
compared  with  that  of  the  two  nights  and 
one  day  that  I  passed  on  the  banks  of  Cylin- 
der Creek." 

It  was  near  this  creek  that  the  detachment 
which  had  gone  to  the  lakes  to  bury  the  dead 
there,  rejoined  the  command.  They  had 
suffered  even  more  grievously  than  their 
companions.  On  reaching  the  place  of  the 
massacre,  they  had  dug  shallow  trenches  in 
the  hard  soil  and  deposited  within  them  the 
stiff  and  mangled  bodies  of  the  settlers.  They 
had  then  started  back.  They  had  waded 
sloughs  waist  deep  ;  had  tramped  to  and  fro 
all  the  night  of  the  blizzard  in  order  to  keep 
from  succumbing  to  stupor  and  perishing  ; 
had  terribly  frozen  their  feet.  Some  of 
them,  finding  their  feet  useless,  had  crept 
weary  distances  on  their  hands  and  knees. 
Some  had  become  delirious  and  bled  at  the 
mouth.  Two  of  their  number  had  become 
separated  from  the  others  and  lost.  In 
fact  they  had  died  of  cold  and  exhaustion 
upon  the  prairie  where  their  bones,  identified 
as  theirs  by  the  rusty  rifle  barrels  beside 


228      THE    TRAGEDY    AT    MINNEWAUKON. 

them,  were  not  found  until  eleven  years  after- 
wards. 

With  the  arrival  of  the  survivors  of  this  de- 
tachment in  the  camp  of  Major  Williams,  the 
expedition,  as  an  organized  affair,  came  to  an 
end.  The  men  separated  and  found  their 
way  home  in  various  sad  plights  and  by  dif- 
ferent ways. 

In  the  meanwhile  Abigal  Gardner  and  her 
three  sister  captives  were  trudging  painfully 
towards  the  Northwest  as  slaves  and  menials 
in  the  train  of  Inkpaduta.  Aside  from  the 
captives  and  the  Indian  women  and  children, 
the  individuals  comprised  in  this  train  were 
Makpeahotoman,  or  Roaring  Cloud,  son  of 
Inkpaduta;  Makpiopeta,  or  Fire  Cloud,  also 
son  of  Inkpaduta;  Tawachehawakon,  or  His 
Mysterious  Father ;  Bahata,  or  Old  Man ; 
Kechoman,  or  Putting  on  as  he  Walks;  Kah- 
odat,  or  Ratling,  son-in-law  of  Inkpaduta; 
Fetoatonka,  or  Big  Face;  Tatelidashinksha- 
mani,  or  He  who  makes  a  crooked  Wind  as 
he  Walks;  Tachonchegahota,  or  His  Great 
Gun ;  Husan,  or  One  Leg,  and  perhaps  two 
or  three  others.  One  of  the  braves  was 
wounded  and  was  borne  in  a  litter.  He  had 
sustained  his  wound  at  the  hands  of  Dr.  Har- 
riot, and  was  the  only  member  of  Inkpaduta's 
band  injured  at  the  lakes.  Through  the  day- 


THE   TRAGEDY   AT   MINNEWAUKON.      229 

time  it  was  the  lot  of  the  captives  to  carry  on 
their  backs  enormous  burdens.  They  were 
not  provided  with  snow-shoes,  as  were  the 
Indians,  and  consequently  made  but  slow  and 
toilsome  progress.  At  evening  they  deposited 
their  loads,  cut  fire-wood,  and  aided  in  erect- 
ing the  tepees.  These  exactions  came  hardest 
upon  the  wife  of  Thatcher.  When  captured 
her  nursing  child  had  been  torn  from  her 
breast  and  killed.  In  her  susceptible  con- 
dition exposure  gave  her  cold,  and  she  was 
attacked  by  fever.  An  abscess  formed  in  one 
of  her  breasts.  One  of  her  legs  swelled  to 
twice  its  natural  size,  turned  black,  and  burst 
some  of  the  blood  vessels.  Despite  all  this 
she  was  granted  no  respite  from  labor.  She 
marched  under  a  heavy  pack,  as  did  the  other 
women,  and  with  them  struggled  through 
snow  drifts  and  the  cold  water  (the  latter  at 
times  waist  deep)  of  creeks  and  sloughs.  One 
day,  soon  after  the  attack  on  Springfield,  the 
band  halted  for  rest  near  a  stream  bordered 
by  clumps  of  willow.  While  there  the  Indians 
descried  a  company  of  the  Fort  Ridgley 
regulars  far  away  on  the  prairie.  In  feverish 
excitement  the  former  hid  their  squaws  and 
plunder  among  the  willows,  loaded  their  rifles 
with  ball,  and  set  a  guard  over  the  captives, 
while  one  of  the  band  climbed  into  a  tall  tree 


230      THE    TRAGEDY    AT    MINNEWAUKON. 

near  by  to  see  if  the  troops  would  advance  or 
retire.  The  order  to  those  guarding  the  cap- 
tives was  short  and  explicit :  to  shoot  them 
on  the  instant  if  the  troops  advanced.  The 
troops  did  not  advance,  as  the  Indians  were 
not  discovered  by  them,  and  were  thought  to 
be  a  journey  of  two  or  three  days'  in  the 
lead. 

The  country  through  which  the  Indians 
were  taking  their  way  was  entirely  wild,  and 
hence  fitted  to  exert  upon  the  mind  that  pe- 
culiar effect  of  mingled  charm  and  awe  which 
only  wild  places  can.  In  it  was  the  famed 
pipe-stone  quarry  whence,  from  time  imme- 
morial, the  Dahkotahs  had  obtained  the  beau- 
tiful material  for  their  calumets  :  the  material 
from  which  had  been  made  the  pipe  smoked 
by  Radisson  and  Groseilliers  on  the  occasion 
of  their  first  meeting  with  the  Dahkotahs  in 
1662 — a  pipe  the  size  and  appearance  of  which 
had  much  impressed  Radisson.  The  quarry 
is  situated  in  an  alluvial  flat  which  is  walled 
in  on  all  sides  by  bluffs  and  cliffs.  At  one 
spot  in  this  flat  is  a  huge  boulder  supported 
upon  a  table-rock  of  smooth  and  glistening 
surface.  On  both  the  boulder  and  its  sup- 
porting rock  have  been  graved  the  figures  of 
lizards,  snakes,  otters,  Indian  gods,  rabbits 
with  cloven  feet,  muskrats  with  human  feet, 


THE  TRAGEDY  AT  MINNEWAUKON.   231 

and  other  strange  things.  According  to  the 
legend,  these  figures  were  traced  by  the  hand 
of  Gitche  Manito,  the  mighty.  A  party  of 
Yankton  and  Tintonwan  Dahkotahs  one  sul- 
try day  had  assembled  at  the  quarry  to  dig 
pipe-stone.  Suddenly  there  came  from  the 
sky  heavy  peals  of  thunder  and  zig  zag  flashes 
of  lightning.  The  Indians  ran  to  their  lodges 
in  terror  of  what  they  thought  to  be  an  ap- 
proaching tempest.  But  on  peering  forth 
from  their  shelter,  instead  of  a  tempest  they 
beheld  a  tall  pillar  of  smoke  resting  upon  the 
boulder.  For  a  time  it  swayed  to  and  fro, 
then  gradually  assumed  the  shape  of  a  giant. 
With  one  long  arm  the  figure  pointed  toward 
heaven  and  with  the  other  to  the  rock  at  its 
feet.  Again  there  were  peals  of  thunder  and 
vivid  flashes  of  lightning  which  drove  the 
Indians  into  the  depths  of  their  lodges. 
Again  they  looked  forth,  but  this  time  saw 
nothing  unusual ;  the  giant  had  disappeared 
from  the  boulder,  and  only  twilight  held  pos- 
session of  the  valley.  On  visiting  the  boulder 
the  next  morning,  however,  the  Dahkotahs 
found  both  it  and  the  table-rock  beneath 
it  covered  with  the  mysterious  emblems 
above  described.  According  to  another 
version  of  the  legend,  (the  one  made  use 
of  by  Longfellow),  Gitche  Manito,  the 


232   THE  TRAGEDY  AT  MINNEWAUKOM. 

mighty,  after  impressing  the  figures  on   the 
rocks, 

"  Smoked  the  calumet,  the  peace-pipe, 
As  a  signal  to  the  nations;" 


And  in  silence  all  the  warriors 
Broke  the  red  stone  of  the  quarry, 
Smoothed  and  formed  it  into  peace-pipes, 
Broke  the  long  reeds  by  the  river, 
Decked  them  with  their  brightest  feathers." 

Familiar  with  these  ancient  legends  of  their 
nation,  Inkpaduta's  band  stopped  at  the  pipe- 
stone  quarry  and  spent  a  day  in  the  agreeable 
occupation  of  studying  the  pictured  rocks 
and  of  shaping  pipe  bowls. 

At  the  end  of  six  weeks  from  the  date  of 
the  massacre,  the  Indians  reached  the  Big 
Sioux  river  at  about  where  now  stands  the 
town  of  Flandrau,  South  Dakota.  The  scen- 
ery was  striking.  "  From  the  summit  of  the 
bluffs,"  writes  Abigal  Gardner,  could  be  seen 
"thousands  of  acres  of  richest  vale  and  undu- 
lating prairie,"  through  which,  "winding 
along  like  a  monstrous  serpent,  was  the  river, 
its  banks  fringed  with  maple,  oak,  and  elm." 
While  crossing  this  river  on  a  natural  bridge 
of  uprooted  trees  and  brush,  one  of  the  cap- 
tives, the  wife  of  Thatcher,  was  pushed  into 
the  stream  by  a  young  brave,  and  her  attempts 
to  gain  the  shore  thwarted  by  him  and  others 


THE  TRAGEDY  AT  MINNEWAUK.ON.   233 

of  the  band,  who  forced  her  back  into  the 
current  with  long  poles.  As  she  was  drifting 
away  she  was  shot.  From  this  time  on  wan- 
dering bands  of  Yanktons  were  occasionally 
met,  and  to  them  the  members  of  Inkpaduta's 
band  would  narrate  with  savage  glee  the 
deeds  which  they  had  done  in  the  country  of 
Minnewaukon  and  the  Okobogi  lakes.  The 
wife  of  Marble,  after  much  bargaining,  was 
purchased  by  two  Indians  belonging  to  one 
of  these  bands  and  brought  to  Charles  E. 
Flandrau,  agent  of  the  United  States  govern- 
ment for  the  Sioux  Indians  at  the  agency  on 
the  Yellow  Medicine  river,  in  Minnesota. 
The  fate  of  Noble's  wife  was  like  that  of  Mrs. 
Thatcher.  She  was  killed  by  her  captors. 
She  had  resisted  Inkpaduta's  son,  Roaring 
Cloud,  in  some  excessive  demand  and  there- 
upon was  immediately  brained  by  him  with  a 
club. 

It  was  now  early  June.  "The  prairie," 
says  Abigal  Gardner,  "as  boundless  as  the 
ocean,  was  decked  and  beautified  with  a  car- 
pet of  various  shades  of  green,  luxuriant 
grass.  The  trees  along  the  streams  put  forth 
their  leaves  which  quivered  on  the  stems. 
The  birds,  arrayed  in  their  gayest  plumage, 
flitted  among  the  trees  and  sang  their  sweetest 
songs,  while  the  air  was  redolent  of  the  per- 


234      THE    TRAGEDY    AT    MINNEWAUKON. 

fume  of  countless  flowers."  "We  crossed  one 
prairie  so  vast  and  so  perfectly  devoid  of 
timber  that  for  days  not  even  a  hazel-brush 
or  a  sprout  large  enough  for  a  riding-whip 
could  be  found.  The  sensation  produced  by 
being  thus  lost,  as  it  were,  on  the  boundless 
prairie  was  really  oppressive.  Exhausted  as 
I  was,  and  preoccupied  as  my  mind  was  by 
other  things,  I  still  could  not  ignore  the  nov- 
elty of  the  situation.  As  we  attained  the 
more  elevated  points  the  scene  was  really 
sublime.  Look  in  any  direction,  and  the 
grassy  plain  was  bounded  only  by  the  horizon. 
Then  we  would  journey  on  for  miles  till  we 
reached  another  elevation,  and  the  same 
limitless  expanse  of  grass  lay  around  us. 
This  was  repeated  day  after  day,  till  it  seemed 
as  if  we  were  in  another  world.  I  almost 
despaired  of  ever  seeing  a  tree  again.  The 
only  things  to  be  seen,  except  grass,  were 
wild  fowl,  birds,  buffalo,  and  antelope.  The 
supply  of  buffalo  seemed  almost  as  limitless 
as  the  grass.  This  was  their  own  realm,  and 
they  showed  no  inclination  to  surrender  it, 
not  even  to  the  Sioux." 

At  one  point  in  this  prairie,  (the  scene  per- 
chance of  some  hard  battle  of  long  ago)  was 
found  an  Indian  place  of  the  dead.  Scaffolds 
of  poles,  eight  or  nine  feet  high,  fifteen  feet 


THE   TRAGEDY    AT    MINNEWAUKON.      235 

long,  and  six  feet  wide,  had  been  erected  and 
on  them  in  compact  rows  had  been  laid  a 
great  number  of  bodies.  Only  the  bones  of 
these  now  were  left  ;  in  some  instances  cast 
to  the  ground  by  the  winds.  The  Indians 
paused  at  this  place  of  the  dead  and  closely 
examined  its  relics,  especially  the  skulls. 
These  they  took  in  their  hands,  bent  and 
chattered  over  them ;  then  carefully  replaced 
them  upon  the  ground  or  scaffolds. 

Not  long  after  the  death  of  Noble's  wife, 
Inkpaduta's  party  arrived  at  the  James  river. 
Here,  on  the  spot  where  is  now  the  town  of  Old 
Ashton,  South  Dakotah,  was  a  Yankton  en- 
campment comprising  one  hundred  and 
ninety  lodges.  These  Indians  evidently  had 
never  before  seen  a  Caucasian.  They  stared 
at  Abigal  Gardner  in  complete  amazement, 
commenting  on  the  light  color  of  her  hair 
and  eyes.  Still  more  astonished  were  they 
when  her  white  arms  were  exposed  to  them 
and  the  fact  communicated  that,  when  first  a 
captive,  her  face  (since  reddened  by  paint 
and  exposure)  was  as  white  as  were  now  her 
arms.  The  rifle  was  as  yet  an  unfamiliar 
weapon  to  this  large  band.  Only  the  club, 
spear,  and  the  bow  and  arrow  were  visible 
about  their  persons  or  in  their  tepees. 

At  this  time  Abigal  Gardner  had  given  up 


236      THE    TRAGEDY    AT    MINNEWAUKON. 

all  hope  of  being  rescued.  At  each  remove 
her  captors  were  leading  her  deeper  into  the 
wilderness.  A  life  in  a  Dahkotah  lodge  or 
as  a  beast  of  burden  to  a  Dahkotah  warrior 
upon  the  trail  seemed  to  be  all  that  the  future 
held  in  store.  But,  after  the  recovery  of  Mrs. 
Marble,  the  Indian  agent,  Flandrau,  and 
Governor  Medary,  of  Minnesota  Territory, 
had  diligently  set  about  effecting  the  ransom 
of  the  remaining  captive;  and  while  yet  in  the 
Yankton  camp  she  was  purchased  by  Indian 
emissaries  from  the  Agency  on  the  Yellow 
Medicine.  During  the  negotiations  prelim- 
inary to  the  purchase,  Miss  Gardner's  captors 
indulged  themselves  in  a  piece  of  fiendish 
pleasantry.  They  told  her  that  she  was  to  be 
put  to  death.  The  manner  of  her  death  was 
differently  described  by  different  braves. 
Some  by  appropriate  gestures  signified  to  her 
that  she  was  to  be  cut  in  small  bits,  begin- 
ning with  her  fingers  and  toes  and  ending 
with  her  heart  ;  others  that  she  was  to  be 
drowned ;  still  others  that  she  was  to  be 
burned  at  the  stake.  But  at  length  a  bargain 
with  her  deliverers  was  struck  and  she  was 
given  into  their  hands.  The  price  paid  for 
her  was  two  horses,  twelve  blankets,  two  kegs 
of  powder,  twenty  pounds  of  tobacco,  thirty- 
two  yards  of  blue  squaw  cloth,  thirty-seven 


THE    TRAGEDY    AT    MINNEWAUKON.      237 

and  a  half  yards  of  calico  and  ribbon,  and 
some  other  small  articles.  Her  restoration  to 
liberty  and  civilization  was  now  not  long 
delayed.  Before  her  final  leave  taking,  how- 
ever, Matowaken,  the  great  chief  of  the  Dah- 
kotahs,  made  her  a  gift.  It  was  made  to  her, 
she  was  told,  in  recognition  of  the  fortitude 
of  spirit  which  she  had  displayed  in  captivity, 
and  was,  at  least  from  the  point  of  view  of  a 
Dahkotah,  of  inestimable  value.  It  consisted 
of  an  Indian  head-dress  elaborately  and  skil- 
fully made.  The  foundation  of  it  was  a  close 
fitting  cap  of  finely  dressed  buckskin.  Around 
this,  so  as  to  form  a  crest,  were  set  thirty-six 
of  the  largest  feathers  of  the  war  eagle.  These 
feathers  were  painted  black  at  the  tips,  then 
pink  and  black  alternately  in  broad  bands  to 
the  base  of  the  crest.  Below  the  base  of  the 
crest,  the  cap  was  covered  with  the  white  fur 
of  the  weasel,  the  tails  of  the  animal  hanging 
as  pendants. 

That  Inkpaduta  himself,  or  that  any  one  of 
his  band,  except  Roaring  Cloud,  ever  suffered 
punishment  for  his  bloody  deeds  in  Iowa  is 
doubtful  in  the  extreme.  For  a  time  the  an- 
nuities were  withheld  from  the  whole  Dah- 
kotah nation,  the  threat  being  that  they  would 
only  be  renewed  upon  the  delivery  of  Inkpa- 
duta and  his  followers  to  the  government  for 


238      THE    TRAGEDY   AT    MINNEWAUKON. 

trial.  But  this  action  so  incensed  the  Indians, 
and  put  in  such  jeopardy  the  lives  of  settlers 
among  them,  that  it  was  discontinued  upon 
a  representation  made  to  the  authorities  by 
the  chief  Little  Crow  that  he  had  pursued 
Inkpaduta's  band  and  killed  three  of  his 
braves.  It  was  Little  Crow  who  in  1862 
directed  the  memorable  massacre  of  settlers 
along  the  St.  Peter's  river  in  Minnesota.  The 
probability  of  his  statement  that  he  had 
wreaked  vengeance  upon  Inkpaduta  in  behalf 
of  the  whites  is  certainly  somewhat  shaken  in 
view  of  his  own  subsequent  career.  Accord- 
ing to  every  indication  Inkpaduta,  so  far  from 
being  to  Little  Crow  an  object  of  abhorrence, 
was  his  model.  Roaring  Cloud  was  killed. 
He  ventured  back  to  the  Yellow  Medicine  to 
woo,  it  is  said,  some  Indian  maiden.  But  his 
presence  was  revealed  by  an  enemy,  and  a 
detachment  of  soldiers  from  Fort  Ridgley 
hemmed  in  the  spot  where  he  was.  He  fought 
his  pursuers,  but  soon  fell  pierced  by  many 
balls. 

In  December,  1883,  Abigal  Gardner,  for 
the  first  time  since  1858,  again  stood  within 
the  walls  of  the  cabin  built  by  Rowland  Gard- 
ner, her  father.  She  says:  "All  the  years 
that  had  intervened  seemed  obliterated,  and 
everything  appeared  the  same  as  in  the  time 


THE    TRAGEDY    AT    M1NNEWAUKON.       239 

long  gone.  The  snow-covered  ground,  the  oak 
trees  with  the  seared  leaves  clinging  to  their 
boughs,  all  were  the  same  as  on  that  eventful 
night.  As  the  shadows  darkened,  I  could 
almost  see  the  dusky  forms  of  the  savages  file 
up  to  the  door-way,  rifles  in  hand  ;  crowd 
into  the  house  ;  shoot  my  father  when  his 
back  was  turned ;  drive  my  mother  and  sister 
out  of  doors ;  kill  them  with  the  butts  of 
their  guns  ;  tear  the  children  from  my  arms 

and  beat  them  to  death  with  clubs 

Having  retired  to  rest,  the  swarthy  creatures 
seemed  all  about  me  murdering,  plundering. 

Again  when  the  morning  broke  and 

I  heard  the  prattle  of  the  children  of  the 
household,  it  seemed  as  though  they  were  the 
very  same  whose  merry  voices  had  been  so 
suddenly  changed  to  dying  groans.  I  could 
hardly  realize  that  twenty-seven  years  lay 
between  that  dreadful  night  and  this  morn- 
ing's waking." 


